


I Might Have Inhaled You

by games_and_goldenapples



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Captivity, LiveJournal, Loki's Kids, M/M, Mentions of Suicide, My First Work in This Fandom, Not Beta Read, Possibly Pre-Slash, Soul Bond, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-19
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2017-11-21 12:44:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 23,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/597898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/games_and_goldenapples/pseuds/games_and_goldenapples
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Loki attempts a bonding spell to make it so that killing one Avenger will kill them all, however he accidentally bonds himself and Tony instead."<br/>-frostironprompt LJ</p><p>Post-Avengers, Pre-Iron Man 3</p><p>THIS WORK IS ABANDONED.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposted from frostironprompt. I decided to put this here because of the LJ character limit, which I felt interfered with the flow of the story.  
> This fic has possible triggers for claustrophobia. Also, it mentions suicide. Characters are property of Marvel. I gain no money from this.

He has a headache. No surprise; he's had a lot of headaches upon waking throughout the course of his life, mostly a result of a wild night. What makes this time different is that instead of being woken up by Jarvis describing the weather or Pepper screaming at him about being late, he wakes because the bed is hard and cold. 

Tony Stark opens his eyes to emerald green fire. Switch out 'bed' for 'floor', then. Barely in view of the light the flames cast is an empty chair. He can guess what this means. _Loki. This can't be good._ The memories come rushing back: the sudden attack at the charity ball, running towards the car for the suit, being hit with a weird cloud of green and blacking out. And now he's awake, surrounded by a circle of green flame in a dark room with a concrete floor.

He sits up and glances around. Steve is lying on the floor next to him, asleep. There is no one else. Tony hopes that means the others are looking for them. He leans over to wake him.

"I wouldn't, if I were you," says a voice from the darkness.

Tony twitches in surprise. "Why not?"

"I only need one of you for this," he says cryptically. Tony isn't sure whether that was an answer or a threat. Maybe it's both. A tall figure steps into the light. Loki. Tony looks at him from head to toe. Leather, check. Gold detailing, check. Haughty expression, check. No helmet, though. He's carrying a large golden bowl and a knife. 

"For what?" Tony says, eyeing the knife. He's not sure he wants to know but 1) he's stalling and 2) it'd be good to know what the hell's going on. "And why did you get only Steve and I?" Tony says.

"Too much trouble," Loki says calmly, "You were the only Avengers I had not collected blood from for the spell."

He gulps. "Blood?" It's obvious now why Loki's been attacking and retreating several times these past few months.

Loki grins, a jagged expression. "Blood. A necessary ingredient for all manner of death spells." He takes out a few objects from the bowl and walks the perimeter of the circle of flames, setting them down at various places. A branch, the skull of a small animal, a jar of... Tony looks away.

He should fight. He doesn't have the suit but he should do something constructive. Incite a villainous monologue maybe.

"What do you mean 'death spells'?" Tony says a bit unwillingly, "Avada Kedavra and all that?"

As usual, Tony's reference is wasted. "It really is a shame that I must kill you," Loki says, ending his walk at the chair. "We've had such delightful conversations."

"You don't have to kill me," Tony says. "You could set aside this whole death and destruction thing. Take up basket weaving, maybe."

"Is this another one of your threats, Stark?" Loki says, a smirk on his face. His face is eerie in the green lighting. He sits down on the chair.

"No. I suppose not." Tony gives his own smirk, humorless and much less crazed. "It's an appeal to your humanity."

"I am not your kind, mortal. You may cease your pitiable 'appeal'. Nothing you say can change my mind." He lifts the knife. Tony sees the flash of sharp metal and moves on instinct.

He leaps forward and attempts to jump over the flames. To his surprise, it seems to work: there is no pain. He pushes Loki from the chair.  
The bowl falls with a loud clatter. The knife slips from Loki's hand and falls into the darkness.

But Tony Stark isn't really paying attention. He's fallen against Loki and there's a weird ringing sound in his ears. He stares into the green: green sparks, green flame, green eyes...

Loki's eyes widen. "No," he is saying "No, not this. Not you. No."

Tony swallows over the buzzing sensation in his throat.

"Tony?" There is movement at the corner of his eye. He turns to see Steve sitting up, a confused expression on his face.

Loki snarls. He grabs Tony's wrist and pulls them up to stand. _"You are a fool,"_ Loki hisses.

And suddenly, the world lurches around them. Bright light blasts into Tony's retinae. His stomach decides that it wants to taking a hiking trip up his throat, so he steadies himself on the table while-

Table?

He hears a pained moan. "Gain ahold of your senses, you pathetic being. " Tony leans against the surprise table and blinks in the direction of the voice. Loki is bending over, clutching his stomach. Tony nearly loses his dinner at the motion of looking over. He squeezes his eyes shut and takes a few steady breaths. Gradually, the nausea subsides. He opens his eyes.

He's in a small, sparsely furnished room. There is no green circle of fire, dark shadows, or Steve Rogers. Just a room with dark grey walls and tasteful metal accents. There is a bed on the other side of the room and a small wardrobe. On the wall behind Loki, directly across from Tony, is a door.  
Oh, the joys of teleportation. 

He tenses, seeing that Loki is looking at him with an unreadable expression. Now they are alone. He's going to die for sure. Loki has magic, and all Tony has is his bare hands, which isn't much with teleportation in the mix. Loki is going to say the spell for his death. Hopefully something quick.

"Stay here," Loki says instead. And then he turns around, opens the door, and walks out. Tony gets a glimpse of another grey colored wall before it shuts... and quietly disappears.

After a moment, Tony walks over and runs his hands over the space where the doorframe was. The wall is some type of stone, it turns out: smooth, cold, and slightly iridescent. It is the same material as the floor and ceiling, he notes, which makes him vaguely wonder about how the ceiling light was installed. He taps the wall and the surrounding surfaces, but does not hear anything different. The wall is smooth and dense.

There is no door.


	2. Chapter 2

He lies on his side in the bed and lazily counts the number of spots on the faux fur leopard bed cover. And yes, there is seriously a faux fur bed cover in this room. The slightly scratched wooden table is several feet away from the foot of the bed. A plate of food occasionally appears on it. (Rice and steamed vegetables, nothing too fancy. Tony ate. The plate disappeared afterwards.) The wardrobe is also wood. It looks antique and heavy, with metal feet and metal doorknobs that look like snarling cats holding rings in their mouths. When the double doors open, there are tarnished mirrors on the other side. It is not even half full, containing only a few scarves, a tuxedo, four solid colored shirts (longsleeved) and one pair of jeans. That's the most interesting part of the room. He's explored every inch of the place and now he is bored. So fucking bored. Tony is so bored he could crawl up the walls like Spiderman. Except he can't. That lucky kid can, but not him. He has nothing to do but sleep, think, and eat.

Oh yeah, and worry about his impending death. Because he's been here for who knows how long and he can tell that something is seriously messed up. He gets, for lack of a better phrase, muscle spasms from phantom sensations. And he hears indistinct voices, occasionally. He's not sure if the voices are something he's actually hearing or not. At first he thought they were coming from the room next to him, but when he tried to listen at the wall, the sound didn't change. The worst happens when he sleeps; he dreams in jumbled flashes of sight and sound that leave him exhausted upon waking. He considers not eating anymore, in case the food is drugged. But who knows how long he'll be here, and it's not like the weird sensations are hurting him, as far as he can tell. Obviously, he hasn't died yet. He can't say he knows what Loki's reasoning is. Psychological warfare? Please. This is child's play compared to what he's been through. It's not-

Okay, maybe it's working a _little._ He's worried. But not that much.

He hears a sound and looks over. The door has appeared again. Loki strides through and approaches the bed. Tony sits up hastily.  
"Give me your wrist," Loki says. Without waiting for an answer, he grabs his wrist and places something around it.

Tony flinches at the sharp click and jerks his arm away. It's too late. A patterned metal cuff encircles his wrist. "What is this?"

"Be glad it is not around your neck, Stark."

"Tell me what the hell it is.”

"Obviously, it is a bracelet." Loki says, condescension dripping from his words, "With luck, you will not have to learn what it is for.” He steps away from the bed.

"Come with me," he says. He turns away and walks towards the door. When he realizes Tony is not following, he looks back and raises an eyebrow. "Well?"

Tony quits staring in disbelief and quickly gets off the bed to follow.

He has nothing else to do, after all.


	3. Chapter 3

Tony is tense, walking alongside the trickster in a dark corridor.  
He is sure something is going to happen within the next few hours. What something? That's uncertain, but probably something he won't like. He grips his wrist and runs fingers over the textured metal.

Loki is silent, his gaze on the route ahead. A pale, elegant hand trails along the side of wall, and a strip of light brightens the area they are walking through. Admittedly, Tony's curious about how that works; whether the light exists because of science known or unknown to Earth, but he keeps quiet.

They stop at a seemingly random interval in the hall. Loki pauses with his hand on the light strip and steps back. A door fills up the space. It's a double door, made of smooth dark wood. The handles are golden, with a pattern like snake scales. But the icing on the cake is probably the door knocker. It reminds Tony of the wardrobe; a snarling golden cat with a ring in its mouth. One of its eyes is an emerald, and the other is a ruby.

An interesting choice...

He realizes that Loki has been waiting and watching him as he admires the door.

Loki's lips tilt into a smirk. He reaches up to the ring and knocks, two hollow thumps that are loud in the silence. He steps back, holding out his arm in front of Tony to push him back as well. The doors slowly swing open towards them.

What does he expect? A dank dungeon and instruments of torture. A pit full of poisonous spiders. A room full of illusions that will gradually make Tony insane. Something that matches Loki's twisted, devious mind.

What he gets is a fairly normal looking room.

It is larger than the bedroom, at least thrice as large. Half of it is occupied by a few sturdy tables, with varying degrees of clutter on them. The other half of the room is mainly clear floor. The opposite wall is devoted entirely to worn books and objects displayed behind glass.

The strangest feature is the fountain in the middle space between the tables. But even that is plain of adornment. The quiet sound of running water is almost soothing. 

While Tony has been warily glancing around for hidden traps, Loki has gone to one of the tables and set various objects upon it. He is so engrossed in the task, he's practically ignoring Tony. _Ignoring_ him. 

That simply won't do.

"So, uh, nice place. I don't really know much about interior decorating, that's more Pepper's thing, but I couldn't help but notice your sparse yet lavish furnishings while I was _stuck in that room for a week._ "

"Spare the exaggeration, Stark. It was only last night and this morning. Hardly even a day. Also," he adds, going to the bookshelf and skimming through the titles "Something cannot be sparse and lavish at once."

"Trust me. You pull it off." Tony watches as he pulls a book off of the shelf and carries it to the table. "What are you doing, anyway? Hell, what am _I_ doing? Aren't you supposed to be monologuing right now? That's practically in the Villain's Handbook; you _have_ to monologue. It really bothers me that I don't know whether you plan to ransom me or use me as a guinea pig for magical experiments. Not that I'm giving you any suggestions. But this is your _lab_ isn't it? Your evil lab in your evil lair. Of evilness. And I'm in it. I want to know why."

"Ironic, isn't it? You are the one set on speaking at length."

"Well, if you said something, maybe I wouldn't have to. And don't avoid the question. Why am I here? Either you have a plan for me or you are unsure and stalling for time"

Loki raises an eyebrow. "What, can't I plan to kill you later?" He moves a glass bowl from the other end of the table and sets it beside the book. Tony gives it a dubious glance; it looks like a small mixing bowl, for baking or something like that.

"You had already planned to kill me later," he says, "When you went through all that trouble to get blood from the others and trapped Steve and I in that... that place. That was when 'later' would have happened. You've been hesitating ever since-" Tony's breathing hitches as he realizes.

"Ever since that spell went wrong," he breathes.

Loki meets Tony's eyes and nods once, not even a hint of surprise in his expression or posture.

"You knew, didn't you?" Tony says, "My god. You knew all along that your 'death spell' went awry. It didn't just break. It malfunctioned. Fuck, am I actually dead? I'm not some kind of living dead... thing, am I?" His shoulders shake; possibly because he's nearing the brink of hysterical laughter. Or tears; it's hard to tell which.

"You are alive," Loki says, "You are, shall we say, _lucky_ " he says bitterly, "That you have survived so far with everything intact and in working order."

"Right. I'm alive. Yay me. What's the catch?"

Loki glances away, the fingers of one hand idly tracing the rim of the nearby glass bowl.

Something drops to the pit of Tony's stomach. "What?"

"It is not pleasant."

"I'll be the judge of that," he says, gritting his teeth. "Now tell me."

"Should you be under it's effects any longer," Loki says quietly, "Your mind shall slowly deteriorate, until you are even less than an animal. Sensing, but without thought." 

He pauses; his hand halts its course on the rim of the glass bowl. "Empty," he says. They both stare at Loki's hand on the bowl. Empty. That's what Tony will be without his mind, when Loki's spell turns him into a human vegetable...

"Bullshit," Tony says. "You _liar._ "

Loki looks up. He draws himself up to his full height, his gaze becoming cold. "Excuse me?"

"I said, _bullshit._ What are you hiding?" He steps closer, raising his voice. "Tell me what really happened! _What changed in the spell?_ "

"That _is_ what changed," Loki says, meeting his gaze unflinchingly even as Tony steps closer.

"Nice try, 'Liesmith'," he growls, "Try again, and I'll show you 'empty'." Tony set his hand down on the counter, matching Loki's stare. 

"You are not in a position to make threats, Stark." 

"Oh yeah? _You_ aren't in a position to tell lies. Especially ones as flimsy as the lies you just told me now. Just try it," He challenges and leans forward. "What have you said that is true?"

"You will lose thought when-"

Quickly, Tony smashes the bowl on the counter. He strikes at Loki's throat with the largest glass shard. 

But he is gone.

Tony collapses at the blow to the back of his knees. His knees hit the ground with a jolt. _Fucking teleportation._

A heavy weight settles on Tony's calves and the sharp edge of Loki's knife rests gently against his throat. "Put down the glass fragment," he breathes against Tony's ear, "Or I shall slit your throat."

Tony unclenches his fist, dropping the glass. Bright red blood from his hand drips onto the dark stone floor. Loki does not move from his position.

"Finally made up your mind to kill me?" Tony says after a moment.

Another tense moment passes. Tony almost thinks Loki is going to do it. He's so still and tense and quiet... Finally, the knife leaves his throat and Loki moves off his legs.

Tony slowly turns to face him, careful not to so much as look at the shard on the floor in case Loki misinterprets it as another attempt.

But Loki does not seem to be concerned about that. He is sitting with his legs folded under him, staring down almost mesmerized at something in his left palm.

He moves closer, curious and unsure if this is a trick. "What are you...?" He glances down at Loki's hand. "Oh."

Blood wells up from jagged cuts on Loki's palm. Tony lifts up his own hand to stare at it. The wounds on their palms are exactly the same, down to the smallest scratch.


	4. Chapter 4

Loki's lips move as if he is whispering under his breath and emerald sparks dance over his palm.   
Tony hisses at the sharp pain. As Loki's wounds heal closed, so do his.  
"Well," Tony says, "That was... um..." He flexes his palm, marveling in how well he can move.  
Loki sighs. "What gave the lie away?"  
"You know. The total lack of logic. If I was going to go brain dead anyway, why bother bringing me to your lab?"  
"To examine the effects?"  
Tony grimaces. "Lovely. Well, I assume that isn't the case..."  
"That would be correct."  
"So, the truth is...?" He gives Loki a pointed look. The trickster is silent; his features are carefully blank, but his tense stance makes Tony certain that the question has made him uncomfortable.

Finally, Loki hums quietly, coming to a decision. "Mm. The truth is... more complicated." He stands up, gracefully unfolding his legs as he does so. Leather pants ought to be tacky, but there's something about the way he moves that gives them almost... feline elegance. Which is totally unfair, by the way. By which he means weird. Definitely... weird. Right.  
"Well?"  
"What?! I'm not doing anything!" He winces, realizing what he said. "I mean, what do you want?"  
Loki looks down his nose at Tony. "Are you getting up off the floor or not?"  
He gets up a lot less gracefully, automatically wiping dust off of his jeans. Then he realizes that he just got blood on the jeans he's wearing.  
Loki winces. "Come, Stark. We will wash off the blood in the fountain... and I will tell you the truth."

The fountain, it turns out, takes the place of a sink. The edge is wide enough to sit on and the cool water is refreshing. It is not quite so plain as he had assumed upon entering the room; the bottom is decorated with looped designs like gold and silver wire. Perhaps they are Celtic knots or maybe jagged letters, but the rippling of the water shifts the shapes enough that he isn't sure.   
They dip their hands in the water and the red swiftly wisps away, downward and disappearing. Loki takes his hand out of the water quickly, stray sparks of green magicking the wet away, but Tony keeps his hand in and silently tries to decode the metallic swirls.  
"Did you dream last night?" Loki says after a while.  
He assumes this question has relevance to 'the truth' and plays along. "Yes, I did."  
"What did you dream about?"  
"Um. I don't remember... Bits and pieces that kept waking me up."  
"Well. I dreamt quite clearly last night." He sighs, casting his gaze downward to the water. Rippling light caresses his features. "A nightmare, one could say."  
"Oh... Uh, do you want to talk about it?" If Tony was the closest thing to a shrink that Loki could find, well... Well, it'd be a disaster, but at least he would try to listen.  
"No," he says, surprising Tony. "I suspect you will know soon enough. It seems we are bonded, you and I." Loki grimaces. "It was supposed to be quick: place the spell and be done with it. The side effects did not matter; you and your team would be dead."  
Tony does his best to ignore the chill he gets by how calmly Loki says that the Avengers would be dead by now. "Side effects?" he asks.  
"Yes. When you speak, your voice hums at my throat. When you are restless, it is like a itch I cannot scratch. When you are angered, it is a heat that boils in my chest. The worst part of it," he says, "Is that it forces me to be all the more like you." He looks up, meeting Tony's eyes. "Take your hand out of the water, Stark. Too much cold can disrupt the energy of a being such as yourself."  
Tony does so. Goosebumps prickle along his skin.  
"Kill me, as you attempted to do today, and you will kill yourself. Take this as your warning, Stark. I will mind your health as I would my own. Attempt to sabotage it, and you will never see out of this place ever again."  
Tony snorts. "So? It's just you and I, like you said. Why should I care about my own life if I can take you out, one of SHIELD's top ten superpowered criminals?"  
"You would rather die? For what?"  
Tony shrugs. "It's a hero thing, what can I say?"  
"Strangers, Stark. What loyalty do you have to someone you've never met?"  
"If not them, for my team. Thor would cry his heart out, but then, you tried to kill him. I'm sure he'll get over it."  
Loki tenses. Now that Tony is paying attention, he feels the tightness in his shoulders, radiating down his back, a slight (cold) anger. "I forbid you to attempt to kill yourself."  
"What's to stop me?"  
They glare at each other, stuck in a tense tableau.  
"Very well," Loki says after the pause. "How is this for a compromise: should you not harm yourself, I will do my best to break the spell. And then I shall set you free. You will live another day, to face me alongside your team. I may even present myself to you, so we may battle. Agreed?"  
Tony paused, thinking it over. "Hmm. That's too complicated. After all, I have you at my mercy now."  
"Somehow, I doubt you wish to die today."  
He was right. Tony did not want to die today, if he could help it. "How do I know you aren't lying? Will you keep your promise?"  
"Does it feel like a lie?"  
"Oh, come on," Tony scoffs. "This spell thing isn't a lie detector."  
"Then why did you not think you would turn mindless? Was that not a lie?"  
"...I knew that your explanation didn't make sense."  
"Mm. Perhaps you overestimate your brilliance, Stark."  
Tony snorts. "Pot calling the kettle black."  
The tension has faded somewhat. Tony, trying to sort everything out, wonders how much of what he's "feeling" is himself and how much is Loki. And what does a lie feel like, anyway?


	5. Chapter 5

The moment after their agreement is a bit anticlimatic, to be honest.

Loki frowns at the bloodstain on Tony's jeans. "I see you have taken advantage of the clothing in my closet."  
"Yeah. The tux was getting a little constricting- Wait. _Your ___closet. As in...?"  
Loki's haughty look is answer enough.  
"Oh. No wonder the legs are so long. I had to fold the hems."  
"Not surprising that you needs must do so," Loki says dryly, "Your stature is far below mine."  
"...I see what you did there. Don't think I didn't."  
"I haven't the slightest idea what you mean." His face is a carefully innocent mask, but that doesn't stop Tony from catching the dark glint of humor in his eyes.  
" _Sure_ you don't. And you claim this 'bond' helps us understand each other."  
"I said no such thing. We merely share more experiences. In any case, you are in need of a proper wardrobe."

Which is somehow how Tony ends up bathing in a villain sorcerer's large fountain/pool while said villain searches for clothing.  
Actually, it's not too bad. So what, Loki has a minor obsession with cats, the color green, and water fountains. Tony has a few weird quirks himself; who's he to judge? 

He is led through the hallway (Or is it hallways? It all looks the same) and into the bathroom, which is literally a room in it's own right. The main event is the fountain, of course. The room almost seems like a place to enjoy the view as well as to get clean. The fountain looks like an abstract work of art and there are benches and potted plants surrounding it. There's a partitioned area off to the side where he can change clothing and pick out soap. Within that area is a counter. And a toilet, of all things, with strange purplish toilet water. Loki sneers about his questions about it. 

"Of course it isn't filled with water. That would be wasteful and unsanitary. Mortals."

"But Asgard doesn't have toilets, right? That looks like a pretty Earth-like design to me. Us 'mortals' can't be all that bad, if we invented the toilet," he says, half joking.

"I am not having this conversation with you."

And that's pretty much how the tour ends, with Loki striding away, leaving Tony to puzzle over little things like shampoo, plumbing, water temperature control, villains with weird tastes in interior design, escape routes...

 

He lathers up the bath loofah with soap, then sets the bar down on the celadon soap dish by the side of the bath.  
The one place Tony has trouble reaching is his wrist. The twisted metal gleams in the dim light. It's not as if it's uncomfortable. There is no chafing and the skin beneath the metal hasn't turned green (or any other color, for that matter). But it's definitely unnerving.

He distinctly recalls hearing a click as it was put on, but he can't find a hinge. It hardly even moves, although he manages to move it up and down his arm a bit. Etched lines on the metal are twined together like celtic knots, interspersed with symbols that look like they could be letters. It's on his right wrist, where he usually puts a watch. (That's something he regrets. The one time he gets kidnapped and he was in too much of a rush to get to the ball to bother putting on a watch.) If he had welding tools... But he doesn't, so never mind. 

The thing is, he's not sure what the bracelet is for. Tracking? Spying? A 'shock collar'? Tony can't take it apart like a regular tracking device, if that's what it is. And even if he could, it wouldn't solve anything. Damn magic again.

He doesn't want to think about it.

Tony sits back, neck deep in warm water, and breathes in the fresh scent of mint and evergreen. He closes his eyes. The sound of rushing water makes for pleasant white noise that he will gladly drown in...

_The worst part of it is that it forces me to be all the more like you. ___

What did he mean by-? No, never mind. You're supposed to be drowning in pleasant white noise. Don't think. Deep breaths.

_What loyalty do you have to someone you've never met? ___

Thoughts, be quiet. Be calm. Deep breaths. Calming breaths.

_No, not this. Not you._

I said, shut the-

Wait. Tony opens his eyes. "That bastard," he tells the ceiling. It's not said with much verve, since tiredness has caught up with him.

"Who?"

He quickly sits up. "Haven't you heard of knocking?"  
Loki approaches, holding a neatly folded pile of cloth. "There is no door to knock," he says.

Tony snorts. "No door to knock. Good one."

"Thanks," Loki says. He sets Tony's clothing and a towel down on a bench nearby the edge of the fountain.

"By the way," Tony says casually, "You never did say why you brought me to your lab. I mean, it was obvious you meant for me to think I was going to be brain dead and shit, but you never actually explained the real reason."

Loki raises an eyebrow. "Did you not figure this out before? I was stalling." 

"Yeah, except, here's the thing. 'Stalling for time' doesn't really explain much. Why not stall for time by bringing me to the bath first? Anyways, I only said that because I couldn't think of a more specific reason why you would bring me there. You were arranging things, like that book and the glass bowl, which means you actually had a reason for bringing me there. Except now I'm here, not there, so..."

Loki sits down on the bench and carefully examines his nails. He doesn't even look at Tony. "So?"

"Why did you bring me there?"

"Testing. What else is a laboratory for?"

"Testing _what? __"_

"Whether you and I were truly bonded."

"Except you knew all along what was happening, right from the moment I tackled you. 'Not this, not you,' you said."

Loki stops pretending to be preoccupied with his nails, pretending to be bored. He meets Tony's gaze with a carefully blank face. "Oh you think you are so clever..."

"Well, I don't think I'm doing so bad. I'm close to the truth, aren't I? Admittedly, you aren't very good at lying. So." He shrugs.

Loki laughs, a bitter sound. "Your kind has named me 'God of Lies and Mischief', Stark. What does that tell you about me?"

"Um..."

"It means that if there is someone in this room who is not good at trickery... it is not I. Think on it," he says, then stands up. "I have set your towel and clothing here. There is more in the closet, also. Should you require my presence, tap the bracelet against the wall twice."

Then, he walks away. Briefly, he stops by the wall, and an open doorframe appears. Next to that, Loki makes another door appear and walks through it. It closes and vanishes, leaving the first doorway open.

It looks like Tony's not entirely confined to one room anymore. A reward for something?

Cleverness, perhaps?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gave me so much trouble. I must have rewritten it ten times. But I had to stop editing at some point, otherwise I'd never get anything done. Also, I want to extend a big thank you to everyone who has commented and sent kudos. It's a great way for me to gauge your reactions. :)


	6. Chapter 6

Tony stares at the wall, which he has been doing for several minutes. _Come on. It’s not a big deal. Two knocks on the wall._ Then he will summon Loki with the newfound ability of the bracelet. He’ll demand to watch him work on undoing the spell. He will try to find an escape route in the lab and any other room he can convince Loki to take him to. It’s better than sitting around doing nothing.  
If he’s at all honest with himself, he’s a bit worried that the “knock twice” comment is some kind of test or trick. Privileges like that aren’t given without reason, not when Loki’s-  
“Hello?”  
“Holy shit!” Tony yelps, spinning around. His outspread palm automatically comes up to shoot-  
He quickly puts down his hand, remembering that he’s not in the suit. It’s Loki, of course, wearing a quizzical expression. Tony hesitates, taking in his clothing. There are those leather pants again, but combined with an untucked dress shirt in his signature green. It’s… weird to see the trickster in something other than full armor, much less something so, for lack of a better phrase, Earth-like  
“Is the wall nice? You seemed to be regarding it rather intently.”  
Tony snorted. “Yeah, it’s a real work of art. What’s up? And why are you wearing that?” He gestures at the outfit.  
“I wear what I wish, Stark. As for your first question…” Loki tilts his head and frowns, seeming to be grasping for the right words. “There is the ceiling, I suppose. A work of art in and of itself, too. You need not know what is up there beyond that.”  
Tony nearly groans aloud. It’s like Thor all over again. “No, that’s not what I meant. When people on Earth say ‘What’s up’, they don’t literally mean ‘what’s up’ as in ‘what’s in the sky’, they mean ‘what’s going on with you’. It’s slang.”  
“I see. Yet why must one say ‘up’? I don’t understand how the direction correlates to the meaning of the phrase.”  
“Well, I, uh,“ he stammers, “I dunno. I guess, ‘what’s left’ and ‘what’s right’ had already been taken, so ‘up’ was the-“ He halts midsentence, catching the growing smirk on Loki’s lips.  
“Damn it, you’re trolling me, aren’t you?”  
Loki outright grins.  
“Damn it,” he says again, “Okay, seriously. I’m assuming you didn’t come here just to toy with me. What do you want?”  
“I have come to offer you an invitation.”  
 _It’s a trap,_ he thinks immediately. He tamps down his automatic urge to say no. He _does_ want to escape, after all. “What kind of invitation?” he asks instead.  
“A dinner invitation.”  
“…Why?”  
“You are, in a manner of speaking, a guest at this house until further notice. It would only be common courtesy to invite you to dine with me.”  
“Oh good. I was worried you were trying to ask me out on a date or something.”  
Loki’s eyes acquires a mischievous glint. “Fear not, fair maiden, your virtue is safe with me.”  
“Okay. One, I’m not a ‘maiden’. And two, even if I had a ‘virtue’, I didn’t say it could be ‘with you’, safe or not.”  
“Nonetheless, you may dine with me, safe or not.”  
Wait, was that a- No. Sex jokes got people thrown out of windows; Tony had learned that lesson. There was no way Loki’s actually…  
Loki laughs at Tony’s expression. “Follow the hallway to the dining room as soon as you are able. I shall leave a door open.” With that, he exits the room.  
Just to annoy him, Tony makes sure ‘as soon as you are able’ takes quite a while.


	7. Chapter 7

Naturally, when he enters the dining room Loki doesn’t even acknowledge Tony’s delay, choosing instead to focus on the meal. Tony’s almost tempted to act out, just for that, but he can’t think of anything suitable. He sits down in a chair adjacent to Loki’s side of the table, eyeing the sharing plates set out on the table.  
He sighs. Rice, beef, and vegetables… again. Also, a pitcher of what looks suspiciously like water.  
Shockingly, the dining room isn’t all that strange, apart from the (seemingly mandatory) fountain against the wall where Tony washed his hands. The table is wooden, small enough to seat him, Loki, and about four more. It’s not even ornately decorated, and the only hint of gold is the color on the simple chandelier above the table. That’s really weird. Where’s the green? Also, are those even light bulbs? They don’t look…  
“No, Stark, they are not ‘light bulbs’,” Loki says suddenly, making him jump, “Or light bulbs as you would recognize them, in any case. Please eat.”  
Tony shuts his mouth. Shit, did he say that out loud? He awkwardly scoops a bit of rice and a helping of beef onto his plate. They eat in silence.  
Loki handles his cutlery with all the grace of the Queen of Britain at a dinner party. Maybe even better, judging by how neatly a forkful of rice manages to travel from the plate to his mouth without spilling a grain. Tony gets the feeling that he would not spill a single grain if forced to use chopsticks, smooth and lacquered chopsticks, to boot. Even the way he chews makes Tony feel like a cow chewing cud (ironic, considering the meal). When Loki chews, he does it with deliberation. Slow, as he thoroughly savors the taste. And then there’s the way he swallows-  
Tony clears his throat.  
Loki looks at him expectantly.  
“So…” God, what was he going to say again? “So, uh… you doing anything tomorrow?”  
“I do not have any particular plans. Why?”  
“Well…” He took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m going to get straight to the point. I know we sort of have this truce going on, but the fact is, I still don’t trust you.”  
Loki gives a dry laugh and gestures at the table. “I am in no position to harm you. You do not fear the threat of poison; I don’t see how you should be worried about other attempts on your well-being. We have salt between us, Stark.”  
“Soy sauce hardly counts. And while you can’t harm me now, that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to in the future… Look, all I want is proof that you’re working on breaking the bond.”  
Loki takes a sip of water. “I am, I assure you,” he says, setting down the glass. “If you like, I could send you weekly reports on my progress and when-.”  
“No.”  
Loki’s brow furrows. “No?”  
“I don’t want to be pushed aside while you attempt to fiddle with something that could affect my health. Let me in the lab while you work.”  
Loki casts him a condescending glance. “I highly doubt your ‘engineering’ will affect spellwork,” he drawls.  
“Yeah, well, I don’t expect it to, thanks. But don’t expect me to passively sit around in that goddamn room.”  
“Rooms, plural. You have two.”  
“Tch. Yeah, two whole rooms. Wow. Listen, I’m not saying we have to be tied at the hip. I just mean, while you figure out how to fix this, let me in on the process. It might even be helpful, give you someone to bounce your ideas off of.”  
“I work alone. I see no need to change that.”  
“Well, if I’m stuck doing nothing, eventually I’ll get bored. And… ha! And you won’t like me when I’m bored.” Tony grins.  
Loki winces. “Please, never say that again.”  
“If I never say it again, will you let me into the lab?”  
He sighs irritably. “Since you would have no contribution to make, you would find other ways to occupy your time, and thus, would only be a distraction.”  
Tony sobers. “It would occupy my time better than anything I could come up with in those two rooms,” he says firmly, “Consider it my motivation for not killing us.”  
That stops him in his tracks, his eyes widening for just a moment, shocked green, before a polite mask slips over his features. With another sip of water, he has regained composure. “Have it your way, Stark,” he says haughtily, “Just don’t expect me to entertain you.”  
“I’m sure I’ll be entertained enough, just watching you do your thing, babe.”  
Loki eyes him with disgust. He knows he's lost the argument. They do not speak for the rest of the meal.  
Tony Stark clears his plate with a special brand of satisfaction and stands up. “Well, thanks for dinner. See you tomorrow, then?” he says with a bright grin. Loki gives him a reserved nod in return.  
“Then, it’s a date,” Tony says, walking out the door.


	8. Chapter 8

The mortal exits with a smug smirk and sway in his stride. He thinks he has won their battle of wits, naturally, and Loki is not about to disabuse him of that notion. His threat is almost laughable, to one who has received many threats of death over his long life.   
Almost: although the thread of his life would be a long one, every length of rope has its end.  
He finishes his meal in silence, not bothering to stop the rise of emotions from manifesting in his posture and facial expression.  
He rises from his seat and makes his own exit, extinguishing the lights and closing the door behind himself. He has a missive to send to one Nick Fury and Loki plans to make a lasting impression. The negotiations begin tonight.

 

He returns much later than he anticipated, lightly bruised, but pleased. His new bedroom, though not as influenced by Loki’s personal touch as the previous, is just as well furnished. Most convenient is the area where he can bathe. At first, it had displeased him to realize that he would have to stop using the larger bath, but tonight he is grateful for the change.   
Afterwards, he settles into the bed, twitching with the echoes of Stark’s sensations. He is too exhausted to be irritated by it. Closing his eyes, he braces himself for the regular barrage of painful memories that visit him in his sleep. Just once, he’d like to drift off and find something other than those dark dreams waiting for him.  
Perhaps he gets his wish. He can’t be sure, but when he wakes, he is left with the vague impression of falling backwards and the lingering taste of coconut and regret in his mouth.


	9. Chapter 9

_“…as a child! Cast…“_  
He wakes up with tears in his eyes, and a rising sob threatening to choke him. Tony Stark slowly sits up in bed and curses softly, staring down with blurred vision at his hands clutching the blanket.  
Today is the day that he is supposed to meet Loki to do research on the spell. If there was ever a time that Tony needed to be focused, it’s today, but he feels so-

_“…here now to…”_

Tony startles. He stills, listening carefully.

Nothing.

“Damn it,” he mutters, wiping at his eyes. “ _Damn_ it, Loki.” He never signed up for creepy voices and crying in his sleep. If only he was back home, he’d-

Yeah right. He’d hear J.A.R.V.I.S. and have nightmares about holes in the sky, that’s what.  
He grabs the clothing he needs from the wardrobe, not even bothering to fix the disarray he’s created from riffling through everything. A long shower, that’s what he really craves. A shower _at home_ , where he can adjust the water flow and wash his hair with his own shampoo.

He can’t have that, though. The fountain will have to suffice.

He feels sore, like he’s just had a workout instead of lying in bed all day. Maybe he just feels cramped from lying in bed all day? Night? It’s not like he can actually tell what time it is. He swims around a bit, hoping to loosen up his muscles and keep his mind off of waking up crying for no reason.

 

He’s still sick of the whole situation, but Tony’s a lot calmer after his bath. Loki arrives just as he finishes putting on his shirt. The timing is unnerving.  
“Hey, sweetcheeks,” Tony says. “I was beginning to think you had forgotten about me.”  
“Good morning,” Loki says, a bit stiffly, “You’re hungry; I am sure. Follow me. You may eat while you watch me work.”  
“In the lab?” Tony asks.  
“Of course.”  
Tony shrugs. It’s not exactly kosher to eat in a lab, but Tony isn’t one to talk.

Tony follows him out the door and through the hallway. It’s as dark as ever, except for the light strip which Loki trails his fingers against as they walk. Tony silently counts the number of steps they take on the way there. Even though he hasn’t seen much, he’s starting to believe that it’s all the same hallway. He can’t quite place whether the doors are portals of some type or whether he’d be able to reach the hallway if he knew where to smash a hole in the wall. If he _had_ something strong enough to smash a hole in the wall. Like a Hulk, that’d be good.

They stop walking. Once again, the large wooden door with the golden door knocker appears. Loki knocks and it opens. 

Same old room, still no traps. “Please sit,” says Loki, “This may take some time.”  
As promised, there is food on one of the tables. Pastries and scrambled eggs. Also, a pitcher of water. He puts an apple turnover on his plate. Loki takes nothing. He goes to the shelves against the wall and begins to stack books on a table, seemingly choosing them at random. Hell if Tony knows; most of them don’t even have titles on the spine.  
He takes a bite of breakfast, eyeing Loki. Does he have every book he needs? The apple turnover is warm, as if freshly baked. The crust is crispy and the filling tastes like cinnamon and the sweet/tangy taste of apples.  
“So, what’s the game plan?” he says.  
“The ‘plan’,” Loki says, “is for you to be quiet as I search for a cure among these books.”  
Tony nods. “Cool. You know, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a book. I guess I’m so used to holograms and screens. You know, Stark Industries is into green en-“  
“Stark. Be quiet.” He sets a book down with a louder-than-usual thud and sits down at the table with it.  
“Wow, not a morning person? That’s okay. Me too.” He finishes his apple turnover. Loki opens the book and flips through to the back. Tony takes a croissant off of the serving platter and nibbles on it. Yep, it’s just like it’s been freshly baked. It’s a bit messy; crumbs fall on his shirt, but he easily brushes them off.  
Clearly the book had some type of index at the back, because Loki flips through to a certain page in the middle and begins reading. It’s a heavy book. Seriously, tablets are so much better. A Stark tablet could easily store the large stack of books Loki has on the table and have a search function too. Like: _how to undo a spell._ Or something useful like that. Still, there’s something to be said about watching a humanoid alien from a place with supposedly more advanced technology flip through an information source made out of dead trees. What something, Tony’s not sure. Maybe something along the lines of “Hey, for the betterment of the universe, would you like a free StarkPad?” That would be an interesting sight, Loki with a tablet. He’s an interesting enough sight with the book, strangely regal in spite of the fact that he’s sitting so casually, leaning forward against the table, head tilted downward, stray strands of hair almost falling into his eyes. 

“Would you desist?” Loki hisses through clenched teeth, not quite looking up from the book.  
“Huh? I’ve shut up, like you said.”  
“You are staring.”  
“Oh. Sorry.” And scowling, Tony realizes. Probably because of the dead trees. He rubs his forehead. Loki continues to read. 

“Is there anything I can do to help?”  
“No.”  
“You’re sure? I could start reading anytime.”  
“You are illiterate in the majority of these languages and do not know what you are looking for.”  
Shit. The worst thing, even more horrible than the fact that he’s right, is that this is exactly what Loki had said during dinner last night. Tony is useless. What had he said to Loki in return, “I’ll be entertained enough”? So much for that. Last night, when he had thought he was close to gaining the upper hand with Loki, he had been imagining today much differently. He thought Loki would have been mixing up potions or chanting evilly and shit, not reading a mountain of books.  
“Then teach me,” he blurts.  
This time, Loki actually tears his eyes away from the book. “What?”  
“I mean it. Teach me. Oh wait. You think I meant- No,” Tony says, waving his hand at Loki’s incredulous look. “I don’t mean the languages. I mean, tell me what’s going on. What’s that book about? Do you know what we’re looking for? Do we have what we need?” 

“Spellwork. Yes. Depends on the spell,” Loki says dully. “Please quit distracting me. It is difficult to read and hold a conversation at the same time.”  
His voice sounds like the definition of calm, but his mouth is more set than usual and his movements are slightly more jagged. He’s irritated and trying not to show it.  
“Wow. Those were the shortest answers ever,” he snaps. Well, fine, if Loki doesn’t want to say anything, Tony can keep himself occupied. “I’ll just… walk around and look at stuff while you do your thing.”  
“Don’t touch anything on the shelves.”  
“Fine.” He stands up and walks away from the table. 

First, he walks around the perimeter of the room a few times, examining the walls, floor, and ceiling as meticulously as possible. Particularly the walls. Everything looks exactly the same as in the bedroom and bathroom: smooth, slightly iridescent walls. No hidden buttons or latches. No ventilation he’s aware of, which is creepy; he’s definitely going to ignore that. Staring at the walls quickly becomes boring as hell. And frustrating, even if it is exactly what he expects to see.  
After that, he just wanders around, looking at the objects on the shelves without touching them. 

Tony wanders around like this for a long time. Occasionally, Tony hears the sound of a page turning or catches a glimpse of Loki shifting his position. The sound of the fountain fills the room. 

He catches himself staring again.  
This is the first time he’s ever seen Loki like this. Without his armor, he seems melted down to the bare elements of Loki. Intensity and fluidity, even in near-stillness. His expression is focused, but soft. At some moments, his lips slightly part and he silently mouths out a word. He probably doesn’t even realize he’s doing it. All the viciousness and tension of battle is gone, or perhaps melted into the sharp intelligence in those eyes, which skim swiftly across the page. The dark green cotton makes his shoulders less broad than in his armor, but then, they don’t really need to be broader. Loki has masculine shoulders, the strength and sinew of a warrior, combined with unnerving feline grace when he is in movement. There’s something magnetic about him like this, even more so than when he was all leather and sharp smiles in New York.  
Loki turns the page. The quick movement jolts Tony out of his reverie. He turns back to the bookshelf. Loki doesn’t seem to notice. 

This is possibly the longest time Tony has gone without talking. It’s obvious that the silence is getting to him. 


	10. Chapter 10

After the book shuts and Loki rises from his seat with a blank expression, Tony can’t hold it in any longer.  
“So? Find anything good? Or bad? Neutral? I honestly can’t tell except to say that you look serious.”  
“There is nothing.” He starts putting the books away again. After a few moments of silence it becomes clear that that is as far as he intended to speak.  
“What exactly are you looking for anyway?” Tony prompts. Tony’s perusal of the shelves had revealed that Loki was right; there isn’t a book with an English title on its spine, so there’s probably nothing that Tony could read.  
“Clues what this spell is and as to how we got this way. More importantly, I must find out how it can be reversed. It might not even be in this collection, but I have other resources as well.”  
“Oh please,” Tony blurts, unable to put up with the charade any longer. “You know _exactly ___what this spell is.”  
Loki turns away from the bookshelf, where he had placed another book, and stares. “Excuse me?”  
“’Not this, not you.’ That’s what you said, when it happened. And the first night you even admitted you said that! You still haven’t told me your plans, by the way.”  
“I owe you nothing,” he scoffs.  
“So you do have plans.” He steps forward. “Tell them to me.”  
Loki eyes him disdainfully. “Why?”  
“Isn’t it clear?” He glares and straightens fully upright.  
“Oh! I see,” he says, “You think this situation has placed us as equals, and therefore you should know all. You couldn’t be more wrong. You are frail as-”  
“So are _you, ___” Tony says. Hah! Look at that smugness drop from his face. “You’re as weak as me. I could scratch myself and you’d drop like a swatted fly. At this point, you’re not even Asgar-“  
Loki lunges. Pain explodes at the back of Tony’s head as it meets the bookshelf. Loki’s hand is at his neck.  
“This again? Wounds? Suicide?” Loki spat. “Do you so _crave ___death, mortal?” His breathing was shorter and faster, his grasp slowly narrowing.  
“Do you?” Tony gasps, hands coming up to pull at the one at his neck.  
He stills and his grip loosens. His hand does not leave its place. There is a moment of silence. Loki breaks eye contact. The set of his mouth is grim.  
“No.” Loki says, looking back up to meet Tony’s eyes, “There are more important things on my mind than death.”  
“Then… tell me what’s on your mind?”  
“We are still rivals, Stark. I won’t tell all merely because you wish to know.”  
“Ditto.”  
Finally, his hand drops from his neck. Loki turns to the table again, back to Tony.  
Apparently, he had struck a nerve. He’d expected that he would have become irritated, just enough to let something slip. But to physically threaten him?  
With a wave of Loki’s hand, the plate with scattered crumbs disappears from the table. “I don’t know how it can be reversed,” he said, as if talking to someone on an intercom, rather than in the same room as him, “Though I do know some details of how the spell works.”  
“Well, yeah. Aren’t you the one that made it?” Tony said.  
“No. I merely adapted it for my own purposes.”  
Tony slowly walks from the bookshelf to the table, putting it between him and Loki. “Can you tweak the counterspell of the original spell?”  
Loki grimaces. “There is no ‘counterspell’.”  
Tony feels a chill. Loki looks at him and laughs bitterly.  
“Does that surprise you, Stark? I would not need to search in the books if everything was so simple as ‘tweaking a counterspell’.”  
“How can I help?”  
Loki hesitates.  
“Don’t,” Tony warns, “Don’t say ‘nothing’. You and I both know I’m not useless. Even if I’m just a rubber duck.”  
Loki’s brow furrows and he tilts his head. “Rubber… duck?”  
“Or sounding board, whatever. Someone to talk to, even if I don’t understand. Though I catch up pretty quickly. I’m Tony Stark, after all, your gorgeous live-in genius.”  
The corner of his lips twitches. “Please stop.”  
“Can’t help being awesome.”  
“Tch.”  
“But seriously. Maybe it would help if you worked on things aloud? Plus, I wouldn’t be so bored.”  
“You will not understand.”  
“Fine. Explain it. Or don’t. Just say _something, ___” he said, “All I’m asking is that you meet me in the middle.”  
Loki sighs. “So be it,” he says, “But I have truly found nothing today. You’ll need to wait until tomorrow.”  
“Fine.”  
Loki does not say anything else and Tony doesn’t prompt him to. What would Tony say anyway?  
 _I’ll hold you to it.  
Don’t think I’m bluffing when I say I’ll hurt us, if I have to. ___  
Loki already knows Tony’s desperate. They both are. So instead of saying anything, he follows as Loki walks him back to Tony’s rooms, counting the number of strides it takes to get him there.


	11. Chapter 11

Tony falls into a routine, which is weird because he’s not one known for routines. Habits, yeah, those he has, but this could definitely be called a routine.

First, breakfast. Then, the lab. If he slept in, he has breakfast in the lab. Most of the day is spent there. Loki reads to himself while Tony uses the time to think about questions he could ask Loki. By now, he has gotten used to not talking while Loki is reading. After lab is lunch, during which Loki summarizes what he found and discarded from his readings and Tony asks the questions he thought of earlier. They’ve made it into a game. It’s not so much a test of how much Tony can comprehend, because they’ve silently come to a mutual understanding that Tony can’t learn a whole science in what is hopefully a short time before they are free of the spell. (Damned if he isn’t going to try, though.) Rather, it’s a game of how much Tony can get Loki to explain, as clearly and as simply as possible, before the food is consumed. He’s really good with words, and especially seems to enjoy switching between overcomplicated jargon and vague pretty-sounding nothings when explaining magic. Tony gives back as much as he’s given; interjecting to ask Loki to explain terms he is unfamiliar with or pointing out where things don’t match up to science as he knows it. It can be frustrating, especially when magic and science don’t match up, but one thing lab time never is, is boring.

Once Loki finishes his meal, he escorts Tony to his rooms. Tony has free time until dinner. He uses it to recall and piece together what Loki said. Often, he swims or does sit-ups. Loki invites him to dinner and Tony accepts. Usually, anyway. Then bed.

He has never seen Loki past dinner, and there wouldn’t be any point to visiting him anyway, considering how much time they spent together during the day. If he stays awake too long, he’ll see flashes of color in the dark or feel his skin crawling with foreign sensations. He knows without needing to ask that this is Loki’s fault. Likely, Loki goes outside the house after dinner or maybe it’s just that the effects of the spell are stronger at night. Maybe because the spell was set off at night? It’s far better to sleep and not remember dreams or sensations the following morning.

He’s knows that one day, this routine will break, even if that day is a long way away. They haven’t come any closer to solving anything. Loki’s explanations are getting more brittle and convoluted, a sure sign of frustration.

But at least Loki talks to him. Not just about the work either. Dinner conversation is more often than not small talk. Not the kind of small talk people usually have, for sure, since they can’t talk about traffic or the weather. Loki describes some of his experiences in other realms, like strange food or strange accommodations. Tony mostly talks about parties he’s been to. They never talk about the Avengers or Asgard. In truth, Tony’s grateful for this moment of calm that’s fallen over them. It’s easier to pretend that they aren’t both trapped by the circumstances.

But as much as he’s done to focus on the task at hand, other questions come to him, questions he wouldn’t think of asking during lunch or dinner, unless he were to break the calm atmosphere. The central question being: who is Loki?

He hadn’t really thought about the biggest piece of the puzzle until he’s had to stare at it every day. Boring, easy to solve, he had thought: power-hungry maniac. But now that he notices, it’s really starting to bug him.

Rich cat lady décor aside, Loki’s personality is unexpected. They’d _dined_ at the same table, like they were customers in some fancy restaurant, not like captor and captive. He’d given Tony his room and likely his “bathtub” if that _lake_ could be called a tub. _This_ Loki makes convoluted falling domino death spells and quietly reads books in his study. He blatantly lies and then just as blatantly tells the truth, to the point where Tony is confused about which is which. It’s like some kind of weird eye illusion where if you stare at it long enough you aren’t sure about which parts are white and which are black. He knows that there are things he’s missing; that Loki’s managed to obfuscate or deliberately not mention. That only makes Loki’s words more intriguing.

Not to mention, Loki seems so different from than he did in the Battle of New York. He isn’t a good person by any means. But this Loki is somehow more… Soft? No. Wrong word. Devious? The thing is, he had stopped all the grand gestures. “You were made to be ruled”, “bow at my feet”, insert evil monologue here. All that had faded in intensity over the past few months. He hadn’t paid much attention to it before.

Now, here Tony is, with plenty of time to think about the changes. He had been thinking about the spell when he first arrived. All it takes is a slight change in routine to bring the question of Loki to the forefront of his mind.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” Loki says, then seals him in his rooms. Meaning, not at dinner. Tony doesn’t have time or the inclination to ask why. Loki is doing something behind his back. Tony knows it; Loki knows that he knows it, and they are not touching that subject.

It’s like the first night, alone with the magically appearing food on the bedroom table. This time, he eats. He jogs around the fountain a few times, careful not to slip on wet stone.

After that, he lies on the bed and turns the questions over in his mind, examining them from as many angles as he can, even the absurd ones. The exercise did some good, because his body doesn’t have enough energy to keep up with his thoughts. He falls asleep.

 

 

-

_You don’t feel cold, as one might expect. Rather, the air turns hot. The air is not suffocating, but it’s hot enough to remind you of other times when the air was hot and your wounds were deep. Blue crawls up your body like a sickness. You wish you could scrape it off, but the heat makes you feel weak. Even if you had the strength, there would be no point in scraping off your own skin when the flesh underneath is as much a part of the monster as the skin. Nor can you hide the blue. Your magic has dwindled to a tiny flame in order to prevent an escape; it’s certainly not nearly enough to cast an illusion._

_“No! Do not send me to Midgard like this. We agreed.” Your voice cracks._

-

He wakes up, sweating and shivering.

He throws off the blanket and draws his knees up. “Damn you, Loki,” he whispers, cradling his head in his hands and trying to steady his breathing.

After a while, he sits on the edge of the bed. The lights are dim, as they tend to be at night, and the fountain is a quiet susurrus in the background. The memories hover, ready to make impact with Tony’s thoughts, like rain droplets at the edge of a roof, waiting to hit the ground.

He stares blankly past the table and at the wall, wishing he didn’t have to share feelings with someone he’s supposed to hate. Someone else, anyone else, would have been better than the person he needs to fight at the end of this.

At the very least, he wishes he was _somewhere_ else. Unlike Loki, he cannot travel where he wishes. It’s not even worth mentioning that Loki has technically cheated on their agreement. He’s endangering their well-being by being outside, but Tony’s not sure he even cares, honestly. If he could move between spaces, he would too.

A thought strikes him. He regards the wall with much more interest.

_Knock twice._

He’s never used the bracelet before. The worst that could happen is that Loki could be angry with him, but even that’s not so bad. But if there’s ever a time that he requires Loki’s presence, it’s when he has so many questions, so many damn _feelings_ , and no satisfactory answers.

He approaches the wall slowly.

When Loki first teleported into this room, a door had appeared next to the table. Tony is pretty sure that that door had lead to a hallway. Never mind that the doorframe that connects the bedroom to the large fountain room is on the same wall, nearer to the foot of the bed. Tony has established that there was some weird portal shit going on in this place. But if Loki is going to appear in this room, it’d likely be from that section of wall. If not, the second likeliest entrance would be through the doorframe. He wants to be ready for Loki’s entrance. Therefore, the best place to knock is facing the wall with the doorframe.

The clink of metal against stone is loud in the silence.

There is a slow pause, during which Tony holds his breath.

 

He steps back as a gap widens across the wall. It quickly becomes the height of a doorframe, and, surprisingly, stays that way for a long while.

 

It’s dark in the hallway, save for the wedge of light that shines on the floor. Tony’s shadow stretches out before him. There is no one at the door.

“Loki?” he says hesitantly. Perhaps he wants Tony to enter the hallway and meet him in another room.

Screw it, then. He’s prepared to face whatever Loki has in store in the lab or whatever new room he might introduce.

He steps into the darkness. He turns left, intending to go that way, but a few steps in he cannot see well enough ahead of him to know where he’s going. Undeterred, he grasps blindly to the side and touches the wall. He is pleased when a long line of light glows along the hall.

_See? I’m not useless._

The hall curves right the whole time, and with every passing minute he gets more uncertain that he’s being led anywhere. Finally, he sees an open doorway. He hurries to it, and is not surprised to see that it’s his own room when he looks in.

_Mind games again._

He continues past the door, smiling grimly. He counts the steps. It’s more than the number of steps it takes to get to the lab.

He does this a couple times, glancing in at his room, almost hoping it will be a different one. He could walk around in circles forever, if Loki wants that. He remembers a story he had once heard as a kid, about two magic mirrors facing each other in a room, and how one could enter the mirror world if you said the right words. But if you didn’t count carefully as you stepped through the mirrors, you wouldn’t know which place was home.

He had fantasized about magic mirrors as a kid, despite how unscientific it was.

The thought isn’t as appealing now. He’d rather sleep than deal with this any longer. He hurries to his room.

He freezes in his tracks upon entering. Someone is sitting near the bedroom table.

Loki. Tony’s gaze is drawn to the table’s surface and a chill runs through him as he sees what’s placed there. A bowl and a blade.


	12. Chapter 12

Loki meets his eyes untimidly. “Evening, Stark,” he says, as if they did this every night.  
Tony takes a step back, towards the circle of darkness beyond. He’s trapped, regardless of if he runs now.  
“Do come in,” Loki says. “I thought you would like a chance for extra grooming.” Loki gestures at the table.  
Extra grooming? There’s a weird, tense moment as confusion flutters in his stomach and Loki eyes him consideringly. He’s amused by the confusion. Shit, had he actually forgotten for a moment that this thing went both ways?  
He glances down at the objects on the table then back to meet Loki’s gaze. The bowl and the blade are the most important things, but they are not the only objects on the table.  
“I don’t use a straight razor,” he says finally.  
Loki is undeterred. “It’s what is available. If you require my assistance, I am able to do it. Otherwise, I will merely watch.”  
“Do you need to watch?”  
“Yes. To be sure you do not use it unwisely. You may, of course, decline entirely.” He makes a moue of distaste. “If you prefer.”  
Tony touches his chin. He’s grown a beard, but that’s not the point. Tony’s grooming doesn’t need to be high priority, which means Loki has an ulterior motive. Therefore, this is not a midnight ambush; this is a test.  
Well, okay, maybe it’s still a midnight ambush. A test ambush. He’s not sure what it’s a test of, but whatever it is, the effects of the bond remain in place. Loki can’t hurt him.

He steps into the room. The doorframe does not disappear. Loki indicates for Tony to sit in a chair nearby, and he does so.  
Tony examines the items on the table. The razor is plain steel with a wooden handle. The bowl is filled with clear water, a faint cloud of steam rising from it. It’s not just the razor and the bowl there, as he had been too panicked to consider earlier. There are white towels folded next to the bowl. There’s also a square mirror the size of a slice of bread, resting upright against a pile of books. A small brown bottle, with some kind of clear liquid in it, possibly oil. A translucent glass jar with a lid, labelled “cream”. A round, bristly brush. A clear pump filled halfway, labelled “lotion”. Nothing has a logo of any sort on it. The labels are handwritten in an elegant cursive script on masking tape. He has a feeling Loki repackaged things. Or did he make this? No, he couldn’t have. Still, it’s a relief to see things he’s familiar with. He’s no stranger to fancy shaving, as long as it doesn’t involve a bare blade.  
“Tell me if I’m doing this wrong, okay? Preferably before I cut my head off,” Tony quips, reaching for the brown bottle. He unscrews the lid and puts a bit on his fingers. Yep, it’s oil. He closes the bottle, keenly aware of Loki’s eyes on him.  
He uses the towel and the water to wash his face. It’s the perfect temperature for shaving, warm but not uncomfortably so.  
He opens the glass jar and lathers up. It smells like a forest after the rain, cedar and petrichor. Not his usual scent, but not so bad either.  
Now, for the tough part. He picks up the straight razor.  
He’s an engineer, which means his motions are steady. Even when he’s drunk his hands have to be steady.  
But it’s at an unfamiliar angle using an unfamiliar tool. Not even halfway through, he nicks himself. Loki doesn’t even flinch. He raises his hand to his own neck and magics the cut healed.  
Tony sets the blade down. Two can play this game. Without speaking, he angles the handle towards Loki.  
Loki gets up and positions his chair in front of Tony.  
In spite of himself, he tenses when Loki touches his face. Loki meets his eyes and keeps his hand in place until Tony steadies his breath.  
With light touches, he turns Tony’s head. His also moves steadily, but slower than Tony had been. Careful.  
He has a similar expression to when he is reading, intent and unguarded. It’s a different look from when he’s trying to hide something and wears a mask of indifference, and Tony finds himself wondering what thoughts are behind his movements. He becomes oddly calm as time passes, which he’s pretty sure isn’t what he’s actually feeling. Surely, it must be Loki. His emotions are bleeding into Tony’s, and Tony has gone along with it in response. It’s a similar feeling to when Tony is playing around with a car engine or the final draft of a new invention and everything is going smoothly. Even though they do not make eye contact, Tony feels exposed beneath his gaze. He would speak, if he dared, to fill up the silence with something to distract from the scrutiny. He doesn’t dare. Every touch is gentle, though his hands are cool. Tony barely breathes as metal brushes his skin.  
Loki leans away and slowly places the blade on the table. He lets Tony rinse with the water, which is now much cooler than it should be for water sitting at room temperature. Tony uses the lotion while Loki moves back to the where he was sitting before.  
He picks up the mirror and turns it, looking at all angles. No more goatee, unfortunately. He hadn’t dared try anything fancier than a clean shave. The face in the mirror is one he isn’t used to seeing.  
There are a hundred things he could say to Loki, and a hundred questions he could ask.  
He sets the mirror down and clears his throat. “It looks good.”  
Loki nods. He doesn’t look pleased or displeased; he just nods regally like he had expected perfection all along.  
“But then, I always look amazing,” he says fake-cheerfully. “I didn’t get on the cover of Esquire for nothing.”  
Loki doesn’t roll his eyes and scoff, like he usually does when Tony jokes about beauty. He seems distracted as he waves away the objects on the table.  
“An actual razor would be better next time,” Tony offers.  
“We’ll see,” Loki says, “If necessary, I am perfectly capable of doing this again.”  
Tony doesn’t ask what “this” even is. He’s not sure what questions he should be asking.  
“I’ll leave you to the rest of your morning,” Loki says, once the silence has grown long.  
He leaves quickly. The doorframe disappears behind him.


	13. Chapter 13

This much he knows.  
The spell-bond is the result of the modification of another spell, or rather, a variation on several similar spells meant to do the same thing. Spellwork is a little like coding, Tony has gathered, only utilizing some weird physics shit that he hasn’t figured out yet, rather than computers.

The wound transference is the core of the created spell, but the hastily done work resulted in other, really trippy side-effects. Hence, Tony often got feedback of the physical sensations that Loki went through, and vice versa. Emotions and dreams bleed through at inconvenient times. He hasn’t yet asked whether the effects are more intense at night for some reason.

Loki’s research involves looking through the spells he had modified to see how they could be undone. He hasn’t had much luck.

“Last night, I went to see… other resources on Midgard. There is this one book,” Loki says, placing a heavy tome down on the table. He looks and sounds very tired. (He feels tired, if Tony pays attention, but he’s experimenting with filtering out which feelings aren’t his own.) “All the rest make no mention of how to undo the spell.”  
“You’re sure? If you checked again-”  
“I’ve looked! There is nothing,” Loki spits, then looks down apprehensively at the tome before him, “Unless it is in this. Or…” He trails off, pressing his lips together.  
“Or?” Tony prompts.  
“There is one other source, but we need not think of it unless there is nothing here.” He indicates the book.  
Tony lets it drop.  
He thinks about what he knows about magic and the bond spell for a while, but his thoughts keep drifting.  
He refrains from speaking while Loki is reading. Because he’s done that – spoken to Loki while he’s reading – and they ended up not speaking for the rest of the day. He takes out the paper and a pen that had been lent to him several days ago, but can’t think of what else to add. He wants a suit that can fly to him on command, but it’s incredibly difficult to design something without being able to test anything.  
Loki takes a break from reading.  
“That wasn’t your razor, was it?” he blurts.  
Loki’s mouth presses into a thin line.  
Tony forges on. “I mean, it’s fine if it is. But judging by the condition of everything, you don’t use it much, if at all. The lotion bottle didn’t even have leftover lotion in the…uh, straw-thingy. So I’m guessing it’s a bottle you acquired recently. Actually, everything was acquired recently, except maybe the mirror, because I don’t know how to tell how old a mirror is. And the towels were what’s near my bath, I think. They’re the same color.”  
“You don’t know how to tell the age of a bottle,” Loki says. “Much less a straight razor.”  
“Well… yeah. You’re right. But I could tell the product hadn’t been used, because the containers were clean as hell and filled to the top. The tape labels weren’t peeling off either. Also, I’ve never seen you shave. I bet you use magic.”  
“I know how to handle a knife, Stark.”  
That was probably a threat, but Tony has never had a great sense of restraint, even when he was only metaphorically untouchable.  
“Thor trims his beard. I’ve seen it.”  
“I care not what _he_ does with that growth on his face,” Loki snaps, and turns back to his book.  
Tony feels the foreign anger simmering in his chest. It’s weird feeling two emotions at once, because for all that people talk about emotions like they’re this separate internal thing, he can feel them physically.  
Any mention of Thor in a positive light is bound to get similar results; angry outbursts or stiff silence. He knows they’re not his own feelings because he rather likes Thor. But would he be able to tell if they were emotions he himself was likely to have? Would it matter, at that point, if he couldn’t tell?

“Have lunch without me,” Loki says, at the appropriate time. “I’m going to continue reading this elsewhere.”  
“Sure.” Which meant they wouldn’t have anything to talk about until dinner, if at all. It was a huge change from the usual schedule. Was there a reason for this? Perhaps he should have expected this all along. He races to consider as many possible explanations for the alteration.  
Loki stands up and walks to the door. When he realizes Tony isn’t following, he stops and turns. “Well?” Tony gathers his papers and catches up to him.  
“What about dinner?” he asks.  
“I shall not be there,” Loki says.  
He slows his stride, glancing at Tony. “That worries you.”  
“Me? I don’t have a care in the world,” Tony says easily.  
Loki stops in his tracks and Tony nearly bumps into him.  
“Stark…” He trails off, and casts his gaze at Tony from toe to head, spending a long time at his face. Tony refuses to be disconcerted by it.  
“Yeah?” he says, because the other’s been hesitating to say something for a long time.  
“It does you no good to lie to me.”  
“It’s not like you’ve been any better. You’re really good at keeping a straight face, but that doesn’t mean anything now.”  
Loki shrugged. “In the beginning, yes. But even then, I would have answered in truth, had you asked what I felt.”  
“What you _feel,_ sure, but that’s not the same as sharing what you think, is it?”  
Loki’s eyes narrowed. “Of course not. I’m not naïve.”  
“Neither am I. So I won’t tell you why I’m feeling this way.”  
He expects him to argue, but Loki nods, like that’s settled, and continues walking.  
“But it’s not like you’re as honest as me,” Tony says, hurrying after him.  
Loki huffs, but does not deign to answer.  
“You like to play all these mind games, as if confusing me is going to make it any less easy to see right through you.”  
“I don’t care about what you think you see. I have no need for games.”  
“Really? Then why shave off my beard?”  
“What does that have to do with it?”  
“‘What does’…” He sighs heavily. “I didn’t have to wander around in circles. And you didn’t have to bring a straight razor.”  
“I apologize for the inconvenience.”  
Tony grits his teeth. Well, so much for that. They spend the rest of the walk in silence, and Tony keeps a steady count of his steps. Loki is also irritated, and he hates that he knows that. 


	14. Chapter 14

_"How could you do this?” you say, “He’s but a child.”  
“Yet old enough to be a danger.”  
“It was an accident!”  
“Which is why his strength must be controlled.”  
“And I can teach-“  
“You will do nothing.”  
“Nothing? Have you-” You take a breath and start over. “Please, father. Let him stay.”  
“No. I cannot let this happen again.”  
“But-“  
“Enough.”  
Odin exits the room. You move to follow him but Frigga places her hand on your shoulder. “Loki-”  
When you see her expression, the air becomes dense and closes in. “You agree with him,” you say shakily.  
“He will be well cared for and-”  
You push her hand off your shoulder and turn away, to the door you came in.  
“Loki, wait!”  
You do not wait for her to catch up to you. In fact, you use all available resources to escape her grasp. Maybe you truly have improved enough at magic that even your own mother cannot find you. Or maybe, she gave up looking._  
-

Tony wakes up.  
There is a hand softly petting his hair and a slight decline in the mattress on the side where his back is facing. He breathes in shakily and wipes his face with the leopard blanket.  
“Who was he?” Tony says, once his breathing has steadied.  
The hand in his hair withdraws. There is a long silence, a difficult silence during which Tony closes his eyes and tells himself not to look behind him. _His face will be a mask anyway_ he tells himself, almost certain that he will not answer the question.  
“My son,” Loki says finally.  
Tony had guessed as much.  
“He was born here, on Midgard.”  
 _That_ is enough for Tony to gain the courage to look behind him. Loki’s face is not a mask, but he is composed. His eyes are shinier than usual. “He’s human, you mean?” he asks.  
Loki shakes his head. “Far from it.”  
He pushes himself up to a sitting position. Loki shifts uneasily, then stands up and walks to the table. He sits at a chair there, in profile to Tony’s gaze. Tony gets the sense that he should stay where he is, lest Loki bolt.  
“They called him a monster.” Loki continues, “In a way, I suppose he is. I know now of my tainted blood, and perhaps Odin himself was taking that into account when the decision was made. So, they took him away.” Loki pauses to gather his calm.  
Tony pretends not to notice. ‘Tainted blood’, though? He knows Loki was adopted, and yet…  
“I was ignorant, then. I should have known that they would never allow him to return… In any case, Odin demanded that Thor and I stay in Asgard.”  
“You can’t have liked that,” Tony says.  
He smiles wryly. “Oh, I obeyed for a while. Long enough for their guard to be let down, and for me to improve at deflecting their gaze. Eventually, they thought the matter past, and allowed me to travel with Thor once again. Even then, I left the house I had built here alone. I had almost forgotten it, until my exile on this realm.”  
 _Exile,_ Tony thinks, and recalls the blue heat crawling up his arms. “So, you were sent here?”  
Loki glances over. “Did Thor neglect to mention that?” Loki says derisively.  
“Well…”  
“There’s no need to soothe my feelings, Stark. It sounds like an action of his.”  
“Maybe he forgot?”  
“Mm.” Loki’s expression tells all his thoughts on the matter.  
Tony thinks about that for a moment. “He was sent here, the first time.”  
“I’m aware.”  
Memories of not-so-secret top secret SHIELD files and a few private conversations with Thor rush back to him. Hadn’t there been some kind of showdown with Loki at that time? He wishes he knew the details. He decides to shut up about it, until he knows more.  
“Why exile? I thought they were going to keep you somewhere. That’s why they cleared out that area in Central Park for the Rainbow Wormhole thing, you know?”  
“The…? No, Stark. I was sent to my trial. It was decided that I would go through a test of honor, as Thor has done.”  
“Uh, wait a second. You mean, they chose to place you on _Earth?_ You?”  
“Well, yes. I was not allowed to take weapons, you see. They did not want to chance my escape before my exile, either. I think Odin planned for me to win everything back, through kissing up to him.” Loki frowned. “He should have known that I am not like Thor. My magic is core part of me, more than that hammer ever will be for him. If I had more time to prepare, it would have been better. My magic would be stronger, but as it was, I tried hiding away what little ability was left, to fool him into thinking exiling me had taken it all away. I still have my magic, barely. I can transport myself to most places that I wish, but it’s unpleasant to do so, and downright impossible to travel outside of this planet.”  
Tony remembers his arrival and the accompanying nausea. He had thought that was simply because he was unaccustomed to teleporting.  
“Then you hid here,” Tony says.  
“Yes.” He nods. “I hid here, powerless. I think I would have remained powerless, if it weren’t for my resources here. I have time to heal.”  
“Why are you telling me this?” he asks.  
Loki pauses. “Boredom,” he says with a shrug.  
“Or Stockholm Syndrome.”  
“I’m unfamiliar with the phrase.”  
“Or maybe not exactly, since we’re kind of each other’s hostages. No wait; that would mean we’re both captors, too. Neither of us… What I mean to say is that you’re only talking to me like this because we’re stuck together.”  
“There’s a saying I’ve heard: ‘This too shall pass.’”  
“What, being stuck together or you talking to me?”  
“The former.”  
“So you’ll talk to me? After all this?”  
Loki hesitates.  
“Assuming there is an ‘after this’. Let’s assume. But even so, I’m super busy and super famous, and I probably don’t have the time and shouldn’t make the time to talk to someone who I plan to meet in battle. Not even on weekends.”  
“I think I understand your point, Stark.”  
“Good.”  
“I shall endeavor to keep speech beyond spellwork to a minimum from now on.”  
“What? No, that’s not the point I’m making at all!”  
“Isn’t it?”  
“No. Please keep talking to me or I’ll go insane. I don’t think I’m joking. I’m just saying, _after_ this we can go back to how it was. No spell, no dinner, and no talking. Well, okay, some talking, because you make so many damn threats and I love the sound of my own voice, but other than that.”  
“Or perhaps it shall be as it is now, not as it was, and you and I shall continue speaking at length.”  
“Well, which is it!? Either you want to talk or you don’t. I’m voting for don’t, once this is over.”  
Loki sighs heavily. “We shouldn’t be talking. In fact, we should never have started, because this should never have happened. But now that it has, do you really believe that everything can be the way it once was?”  
Tony crossed his arms. “Of course.”  
“Of course,” Loki echoes. Tony wasn’t sure it was agreement.


	15. Chapter 15

Loki is avoiding him.  
He paces the confines of his glorified cage. The thought has occurred to him that he could drown himself very easily, but he’s more optimistic than that. There’s actually a lot he could do, even without death, but two days of temper tantrum isn’t even worth trying them for.  
On the third day, Loki strides in, looking… conflicted. Not in a nervous way, but like he doesn’t know whether to feel thunderous or gleeful or resigned, so he’s decided to be all at once. That’s not even possible.  
“Follow me,” he snaps.  
“What happ-”  
Loki is already out the door.  
Despite himself, he’s excited. Something new at last! He sprints after him.  
Loki practically drags him into the lab. He starts at the touch on his wrist. Loki rarely touches him.  
Something bothers him about this room, once he enters. He glances around, and immediately, his gaze falls upon the fountain. It isn’t on. It’s just a weird sculpture with no water coming out of it. It was the noise of the water that had alerted him. Or rather, the lack of it.  
“Come on,” Loki says through gritted teeth. The fountain is not what he wants to show him.  
The non-table side of the room is occupied, for once. There’s a chalk circle with rings of squiggly symbols all around it written on the ground.  
Tony gasps. He’d been expecting something like this, half expecting to be disappointed, and yet… there it is.  
“Stand there. We don’t have much time.”   
Tony walks to where Loki points. Maybe it’s not chalk? It doesn’t smudge. He watches as Loki walks around the circumference, to stop at one of the largest symbols. He shifts from foot to foot.  
“Are you sure everything’s set up correctly?”  
“Yes.”  
“I don’t feel too good about this,” Tony babbles, “I mean, I know we said we wouldn’t talk, but I’m still a pretty good rubber duck. So why don’t you run the steps by me, just for old times sake.”  
Loki doesn’t look as gleeful or thunderous as he did before.

“I apologize for this, Stark.” He raises his hand-  
“Oh shit.”  
-and a weird cloud of green engulfs Tony completely.  
 _Thunderous is more Thor’s thing anyway…_ he thinks through a haze of fog. Then, he is gone.  
-

Not surprisingly, he has a headache upon waking up. He supposes that’s par for the course after being knocked out by magic. He’s lying down on grass, sunlight piercing through his brain. He’s wearing borrowed clothing and metal bracelet where he usually wears a watch.  
He sits up slowly and winces at the movement.  
He stands up and rotates in a circle, looking at everything. After a brisk walk, staring at the trees and the people and the buildings, he gets a good sense of where he is. He’s in Central Park.

He’s a gullible idiot in Central Park.

He also has no money and no way to disguise himself.  
Surprisingly, no one gives him a second glance. He touches his chin. New Yorkers don’t look at each other as it is, and he looks different than he usually does.

 

His feet feel like they’ve been scraped with sandpaper and pummeled with rocks. He doesn’t hide the weary expression on his face when he glances pointedly at the camera in the lobby at the entrance. The elevator doors open for him. They close behind him and the elevator goes up without any input.  
“Welcome home, Sir.”  
He slides to the floor. “It’s good to be back,” he sighs.

The first thing he does is change his clothes, although he’s itching to go to the lab or see his team. He soaks his feet in cold water. He’s mesmerized by the water flowing out of an actual tap.  
“Jarvis, what happened while I was gone?”  
“A variety of events, including a search for you. Pepper has asked me to compile a list of relevant news. Perhaps you would wish first to speak to someone?”  
Tony blinks. “Who? Here?”  
“Captain Rogers in the main common area. Others of your team have been notified of your presence. Do you wish for them to arrive?”  
“Yeah, that’s okay. Tell Steve I’ll see him in an hour.”  
“Yes, sir.”

 

There’s Steve, as expected. Not as expected, a familiar lady, sharply dressed, sitting on the chair adjacent to him.  
“Hey guys. Miss me?”  
Steve smiles. Pepper rolls her eyes.  
“Before you ask, I’m not hurt, except for a couple blisters. No, I don’t need a doctor. Yes, I already ate. I know you’re both wondering how I planned my great escape, and-”  
“SHIELD paid your ransom,” says Pepper.  
So that’s what had happened.  
“Why? I was going to escape on my own,” Tony says.  
“I thought we were going to break it to him slowly?” says Steve.  
She shook her head. “We couldn’t afford to let you stay that long.”  
At first, he thought she was talking to Steve, then he realized she meant Tony’s kidnapping.  
“So, how much am I worth?”  
Steve and Pepper exchange glances.  
“C’mon, I’m curious.”  
“That’s not really important,” Steve says.   
“We need to catch you up on everything that’s been happening while you were gone,” Pepper says. “I’m just here to tell you a few things, then I’ll be on my way. You need to sign some papers later on in the week, since you’re not dead. Jarvis has been keeping a running record of news stories related to your disappearance. Have him show you the important ones.”  
“Haven’t seen them yet. You couldn’t tell them I was in my lab?” Tony says half-jokingly.  
She gives him that look. “Even I can’t say you’ve been stuck somewhere for nearly a month. Everyone knew that there had been an attack. SHIELD knew right away that you were gone. It was pretty clear by the time you didn’t show up to certain fights.”  
She got him, there. He might skip out on social stuff, but he’d practically never avoid the call to assemble.  
He turns to Steve. “And? What are you here for? Don’t say ‘moral support’, because Pep’s been going easy on me.”  
Pepper sighs. “I’ll be back later, Tony. Watch those news videos! It’s nice seeing you again, Steve.”  
Steve nods. “Likewise.”  
Tony looks back and forth between the two. “Whoa. You’re on first-name terms?”  
The elevator opens for her, and she doesn’t bother answering. Steve shrugs. Well, it figures she would be close to someone on the team. For all that she wouldn’t date someone who always put himself in danger, it makes sense for her to make friends with someone who could keep an eye on those she cares about.  
“SHIELD sent you,” Tony says, once she’s gone. “Because Bruce is somewhere else, and they think you’re the most likely to get me to say something.”  
Steve crossed his arms. “I thought I might as well do the debrief because I’m the only one who was there when you were taken. Was I wrong?”  
So, SHIELD had sent him, but he looks so hurt about the Bruce comment that Tony doesn’t have it in him to argue the issue. “…Sorry,” he says. Steve nods. “What do you remember about that night?” Tony asks.  
“Well, we were at the event. I remember that I was knocked out by something… greenish? After that, all I remember is waking up in that warehouse. Then, Loki teleported both of you away. We tried to search for any connections between him and that place, but there was nothing.”  
Tony nods. “So it wasn’t a place that he usually uses.”  
“We suspect that his base of operations is elsewhere.” Steve cocked his head. “What do you think?”  
“Yeah, but I didn’t figure out where. Some place with a lot of water.”  
“Water?”  
“Yeah, we had access to pools of it. He had a weird house, and I was basically restricted to two rooms. Pretty large, lots of water. But that’s all I know.”  
Steve looks slightly disappointed. “Did you figure out anything about him?”  
 _He likes eccentric home furnishings,_ he thinks automatically.  
“Well… I think his power is extremely crippled from the last time he was on Earth.”  
“How so?”  
“He mentioned something about being mostly stripped of magic when he was put here.”  
“Put here?”  
“Apparently, Asgard sent Loki here. Ask Thor about it.”  
Steve’s brow furrows. “Anything else?”  
Nothing he wants SHIELD to know about. “Nope.”  
“Okay.” He pats Tony on the shoulder. “If you need me, call me.”  
 _No matter where you are, no matter how far._ Tony’s lips twitch. “Sure thing.”

He goes down to the lab.  
“Jarvis, I want your summary of recent events based on the videos Pep wants me to know about. Timeline over here.” He gestures at the space, and a notched line appears on hologram. “Also, I want to see the results of the scans on this” he gestured to his wrist “with side-by-side charts. Pull up my vitals as well.”  
“Yes, Sir.”


	16. Chapter 16

_This is not your body. You realize that immediately, unlike the other times you dreamt something that wasn’t your own. It’s unsettling to be unable to move anything. One hand is holding a lamp, because this is a dark corridor of bookshelves. The shadows flicker and hide, like living creatures_  
_“This is not a memory,” the mouth says, “I am proving that I am not being idle, and that it is still in your best interests to be in good health.”_  
_It’s the truth. How you know is not certain, but you know it as certainly as if you’d said it yourself._  
_The steps slow and the lamp is held up to a row of books. A book is chosen._  
_“I doubt this will help. But you have resources of your own, don’t you, Tony?”_

-  
Eventually, everyone else has questions for him too. It’s not like all the Avengers actually live at the Tower, but it’s a base of operations often enough that people are there on a regular basis. Even Steve, who has his own apartment, prefers to be at the Tower, on account of team bonding and avoiding the paparazzi. There have been weeks where the whole team happens to stay over at the same time.  
Tony should have figured this week would be busy.  
Thor is in Asgard. He’s not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed. Bruce is in town, on account of the Hulk being pretty much Loki-proof. Clint and Natasha have always preferred the Tower over any SHIELD facility, and they just got back from some mission or another. Tony doesn’t bother getting JARVIS to try to find out the details. And, of course, Steve couldn’t just leave Tony alone.  
It’s a bit like everyone’s trying to get him acclimated to the modern world, never mind that he’s been gone for a month, not several decades. Bruce puts on the coffeemaker at the same time that he boils water for himself. Clint and Natasha play video games after lunch. Everyone watches a movie with Steve.  
Tony pays close attention to those moments, when everything is calm without emptiness.  
_Hey. I have something to show you._  
He’s not sure it’s working. But then, he’s wanted it to be gone, so there’s no point being disappointed about it when he gets no response.

The questions start at dinner, one of the planned ones that Tony can’t skip without looking like a jerk.  
“Have you remembered anything important about Loki?” Steve asks, getting another helping of spaghetti.  
Everyone else pauses what they are currently doing, then quickly pretends that they hadn’t stopped anything. Well, except for Natasha, who doesn’t blink an eye.  
It’s Bruce who speaks up next. “It’s been days, and you haven’t talked to anyone about this.”  
Tony shrugs. “It’s not like he was torturing me. The worst part of it was the boredom. I’ve told Cap here the important bits.” He gestures with his fork.  
Steve nods. “I’ve told them. But even the littlest detail helps.”  
“Like what details? He has a weird magical house with an actual toilet?” He snorts.  
_Toilet?_ Clint mouths at Natasha. Tony pretends not to notice.  
“Ask away,” he continues, “I’m more interested in your end. The news doesn’t tell everything. I’m guessing Loki showed up and demanded money, then you couldn’t pretend I was conveniently drowning in intellect away from the press.”  
Clint says, “He first wanted Steve in exchange for you.”  
Tony freezes.  
“But we told him no, and he settled for money,” he finishes smugly. He doesn’t seem to notice Tony’s reaction.  
“Uh, yeah. He planned to kill us,” Tony says. “Steve, too.”  
Clint snorts. “Duh.”  
“Planned?” Natasha asks.  
Tony hesitates. “…I don’t think he does any longer.”  
Clint shakes his head, not saying anything. Maybe because his mouth is full, but more likely because the gesture says enough.  
“How can you be sure?” She has a point, but Tony has better intel than her.  
He shrugs. “I can’t. It’s just a thought.”  
“What makes you think he won’t, then?”  
“He let me go, didn’t he?”  
“He held you for ransom, Tony,” Steve says.  
Yeah, when they put it like that, it does sound a little crazy. “I know,” he answers, “I’m not defending him; I’m just saying that I don’t think he’ll kill us. Or maybe he’s… busy with something else? There’s more on his mind than us.”  
“That’s a dangerous thought,” Bruce murmurs.  
“A lot of my thoughts are,” Tony snaps. “But they’re usually right.”  
“Just be careful,” Bruce says.  
Tony finishes his plate as quickly as he can.

Natasha pulls him aside later. “What do you plan to do about it?”  
“Huh?”  
“Don’t play dumb, Stark. It doesn’t suit you. You say he doesn’t want to kill.”  
“Kill _us,_ ” Tony corrects, “Not just kill.”  
Then he realizes that maybe she had made a slip of the tongue on purpose.  
Nat smirks. “Kill _you_ ,” she says sweetly, eyes glinting.  
For a second, he feels like telling her what he’s been hiding. “It’s not like that,” he finally says. “My br- My thoughts are that Thor could do something. Not me.”  
“Not like what?”  
“He’d… he’d kill if he had to.” _If he was able to._  
She shrugs. “Wouldn’t we all. You’re the best judge of how much of a chance you have, I think.”  
“Maybe,” he says.  
“Just think about it. I’ll see you later.” She walks past him.


	17. Chapter 17

Proximity, it turns out, has little to no effect on the intensity of the feedback sensations. That’s actually just a hypothesis; there’s not enough data. For all he knows, Loki is living in an apartment in Central Park.  
 _I wish you’d come over here and talk to me._  
The sensations are all he has to tell him that the spell is still in place. It’s not the worst side effect; he’s gotten used to them by now. Unfortunately, it’s not the only side effect. 

-

At first, there’s a comfortable darkness. When the shapes start forming, he groggily stares at them. By the time the images have formed around him, it’s like he is fully awake. Except, his sense of touch is muted, somehow.  
“…the hell?”  
Foreign amusement rushes over him.   
He whirls around. There, sitting at a familiar table, is Loki. “You! Why are you doing this? And what are you doing? Let me out!”  
“Be calm. You are not trapped in any way. I am, well, _we_ are merely visiting each other.” At the word ‘calm’, a feeling of encouragement bubbles up. Tony ignores it.  
“How?”  
Loki spread his arms. “Look around.”  
“You brought me back to your lab in that house.” Tables, bookshelves, fountain, Loki: it’s all there.  
“Look closer.”  
Tony rolls his eyes, but obliges. The tables are pretty boring. The more interesting things in the room are the bookshelves, with all the weird stuff. Some of it, he does not remember if it’s supposed to be there or not. In fact, he thinks that there should be more books.  
“Whoa!” There are more books.  
“You see,” Loki says, smugness rolling from him in waves. “You aren’t where you think we are. We could pretend this is your precious Tower.” Suddenly, everything changes. They are on the top floor, before the remodeling. There’s even a hole in the floor.   
“Or the throne room of Asgard or-”  
He’s sitting on the throne in a golden room, and Tony is facing him.   
“-a garden that doesn’t actually exist or-“  
“Stop that!”  
To his surprise, it stops.  
To Loki’s surprise as well, although that quickly fades.  
They are in a white gazebo, surrounded by trees with bright green leaves and branches that twist like Chinese knots. The ground is covered in small, white flowers. It’s noon, which means that everything is blazingly bright beyond the cool shadows they sit under. Tony decides that his chair isn’t white wood, but a leather sofa upon which he immediately sprawls out on.  
Loki is mildly irritated.  
“Could you… back up a little or something? Your feelings are all over the place.”   
“Put up a screen. One that you can see me through, but that gives us the necessary privacy.”  
A screen? Well, that makes sense, actually. He imagines metal mesh rising up like a wall.   
Loki nods. “It will do.”  
He hadn’t imagined it going through the entire garden, but yes, it will do.  
Tony stares at the white ceiling. “So this is a dream?”  
“It’s more like a daydream than an actual dream, but I assure you: this meeting is truly taking place.”  
“Could you always do this?”  
“I can easily do it because we are linked. You are able to do the same, I suspect.”  
He’s hiding something. Tony glances over.  
“I could do this before, but it’s usually not worth the effort,” Loki admits. “The bond spell makes it easier.”  
Huh. You learn something new everyday; sometimes, they’re things you almost wish you hadn’t learned.  
“You asked,” Loki muttered.  
The couch should smell like leather, and the air like fresh air, but it doesn’t. He realizes that he can’t smell anything at all. He pauses to take in his surroundings. He should have recognized instantly that this was some sort of mental illusion.  
“Thought you got rid of me so you wouldn’t have to talk to me anymore,” he says.  
Loki pauses.  
“Don’t bother collecting your thoughts; I’d know if you’re lying anyway. I think it’s amplified here. It’s like the physical sensations and the mental stuff swapped intensity.”  
He huffs. “Fine, Stark. I ‘got rid of’ you because I felt like traveling in order to search for more information on the spell, and I couldn’t leave you alone.”  
“Damn right you couldn’t have. I bet the extra money’s nice.”  
Loki chuckles. “I couldn’t leave you alone because it requires effort to give you food… and eventually, you would have found the means to escape or seriously wound yourself.”  
“We all know it’s because I talk too much” he teases, then says seriously, “So, what about that promise you made me? So much for letting me out when the spell was gone.”   
“Stark-”  
“I understand your reasons for doing it. Still, you probably shouldn’t have, because I’ve been doing some studying of my own.”  
“Isn’t that the point? In any case, I doubt you’ve learned enough about magic.”   
“Well, eventually, I’ll figure out what’s going on with your stupid jewelry. I know there are some weird energy readings on this bracelet, and that it’s best not to force it off in case something explodes.”  
Loki smirks. “What else?”   
“I know that any other energy readings can’t be found actually on me, although it can be difficult looking at my chest area. I know that my temperature is running lower than it should be, yet I’m somehow still alive.”  
Loki’s eyes widen.  
He continues. “I don’t need coffee to feel awake in the morning. I even know that my libido’s been lower than ever. Captivity does weird things to perception, but I don’t think I’m making this up. I should have realized when I didn’t go through caffeine withdrawal. I eat about the same amount, if you were curious.”  
Loki shifts in his seat.  
“But I haven’t done any brain scans. Not exactly sure how I’ll do that, but if I did, I bet I’d find a lot to talk about.”  
“Mm.”  
“Nothing to say to that?”  
“You’ll always find something to talk about; that’s hardly new.”  
“Okay, fine. What about your end? I got your messages.”  
“Nothing yet,” he says.  
“Is there anything I can do?”  
He snorts. “Seems like you’ve done plenty.”  
Loki does something and the edges of the garden fade. Tony doesn’t like looking at the edges, but he feels them fading. “Sleep, Stark. We can always speak another time.”  
He lets the comfortable darkness wash over him.

Tony wakes up. He vaguely recalls actual dreams, with fumbling dream-logic, but clear in his mind a memory of a garden. _I’d love to do a brain scan while that’s happening._ He quickly considers the pros and cons. Too many unknown variables, he concludes.   
He’d like to look at his vitals, though.  
He goes down to the lab and compares the current and past measurements, like he’s done a hundred times. Loki had been surprised by something he had said. He looks at the energy readings from the bracelet. It’s not like staring at it more will change anything, but maybe he’s- No, wait. Loki. That’s it. “Oh, I’m an idiot! Jarvis, pull up Loki’s energy readings, Battle of New York.”  
He drags them so that they overlay each other.  
“Huh.”  
Then:  
“Jarvis, how many SHIELD scanners do you think we can unobtrusively monitor?”


	18. Chapter 18

Thor eventually comes back from Asgard. He goes to see Jane, first. When he arrives in New York, it’s a windy day.  
Tony’s in the lab. He’s determined to stay in the lab for several days.  
Other circumstances force him to do otherwise.

An alarm sounds, and he jumps. He waves away the charts in front of him, heart thumping. “Jarvis, you’ve done the house cleaning while I was away, haven’t you?”  
“As you say, Sir,” he responds dryly. A panel in the wall opens, revealing the Iron Man suit.  
It’s show time. 

“Aren’t the police supposed to deal with hostage situations?” Tony mutters as they step onto the landing pad. “Even if it’s just one woman.”  
Natasha overhears him and smirks. “They are. We’re just in charge of extraction.”  
“Same argument.”  
She pats him on the shoulder. “Superpowers are involved.”  
“Damn it. You know I hate that phrase.”  
They listen carefully when they go over strategy.  
“Listen up,” the Captain says, “Our sources say there’s hidden bombs. They’d send in robots, but those stop functioning once they come within a certain range. Black Widow, you have training to spot and avoid.”  
She nods.  
“I’ll go with you. Iron Man and Thor, keep watch from above until we need you. You may have to bring Hawkeye to a different location.”  
“Aye, Captain.”   
Tony glances over at his partner. “Couldn’t the suit get shut down?”   
“We need all the technical expertise we can get. You just need to keep everything long-range.”  
“Got it.” He still doesn’t like the sound of this.  
“We won’t need the big guy unless things go haywire. Keep us posted.”

 

Steve and Natasha make it into the building without any injuries.  
All they have to do is wait until the exchange happens and for everything to be disabled.  
They tell Tony to keep watch near the main entrance. He eventually finds a spot that is far enough away from the anti-tech area but close to the entrance. He decides to stay on the rooftops, so that the news stations don’t bother him.   
He lands on the roof. Hears a beeping. His HUD highlights the bomb in red.  
 _The funvee,_ he thinks, deliriously. He squeezes his eyes shut.   
The ground shakes. The air roars.  
And… then?  
He opens his eyes. The translucent green shield sparkles around him for a few more seconds, before fading.  
-

 

“I’ve told you not to bring in new tech without letting us know,” the Captain says, after the debrief, when everyone is gathered near the dining area, chatting and tending to minor scrapes. Everyone usually is starving after. “What was that? Can you make other shields like that?”  
“Um,” is his eloquent answer. He can’t say anything, can he? That’s been the problem all along. But he shouldn’t lie to his team. He shouldn’t want to.   
He’s paused too long. “Tony,” Steve warns, “You did do that, right?” His tone catches other people’s attention.  
He gives up. “I didn’t. I think… Loki just protected me, back there.”  
Everyone tries to speak at once.  
“That bastard! I should have-“  
“Where is he now?”  
“Tony, are you-?”  
“Whoa whoa whoa!” Tony holds his hands up in surrender. “I didn’t know about it, okay?”  
“What else don’t you know about?”  
“Clint, give him a break.”  
Clint scowls. “It’s a fair question.”  
“I don’t know why this happened, okay?” says Tony, “He was probably watching me. He was pretty isolated until I came along.”  
Clint snorts.  
Steve thinks about that and nods. “Perhaps we could use this to our advantage somehow.”  
“How?” asks Bruce.  
“Hmm. Maybe we could find his location… scratch that. I need some time.”  
Thor looks thoughtful. He hasn’t spoken up this whole time.  
“Well, whatever. I’m gonna look at what we can order for takeout,” Clint says.   
Steve follows him. “I’ll help. Those noodles last time were too greasy.”  
“You’re just picky!”  
Bruce heads to his floor to relax. Eventually, Thor leaves as well, in the direction that Steve and Clint went in.  
Natasha is… staring at Tony’s crotch? Is his fly undone? He looks down. There’s a gleam of yellow metal at his wrist. He tugs his sleeve over it and glances up.  
She meets his eyes and says nothing. On cat’s feet, she exits.


	19. Chapter 19

The next day, he invites Thor over.  
“Man of Iron, it is good to see you well!” he bellows.  
“You too,” he says, trying to sidestep the incoming hug. He fails.  
Finally, it’s over. He coughs.  
“I know we saw each other on the battlefield; we have not had a chance to truly converse.”  
“Right,” Tony says, rubbing his shoulder. He gestures towards a chair and sits down. Thor sits.  
“Steve has recommended that we speak to one another, concerning my brother.” Oh, so the Captain got ‘Steve’ while he got ‘Man of Iron’? Sometimes he feels like Thor is playing it up.  
“Makes sense, considering…”  
Thor nods. “Fear not. Unlike others, I view recent events as a gift, not a burden.”  
“A gift?” Tony raises his eyebrows.  
“Yes. His protection of you, while unexpected, should not be taken as a reason to doubt your honor, but as proof of Loki’s eventual redemption.”  
Oh, Thor isn’t counting the kidnapping as a recent event. “About that,” he begins, “the redemption thing, I mean. He told me he was exiled here.”  
Thor considers. “Not exile, truly. He may request passage to Asgard, to plead forgiveness. Heimdall keeps watch, in case of other signs of contrition.”  
“You didn’t think to tell us about that?”  
He sighs. “I did think about it. However, what good would it have done? He fought us, and we needed no distractions.”  
“Fought? As in, we’re not fighting anymore?” Tony asks incredulously.  
Thor shrugs. “There is no use healing one’s enemy.”  
“Unless you want to keep him alive for more torture.”  
Thor looks unsettled. “I heard he did not…um…” Thor grasps for words.  
“Sorry. He didn’t, and I don’t think he planned to. Anyway, it’s good that you’re here,” he says. “I need to ask you something.”  
“Go on.”  
“Have you,” he pauses. “I haven’t told anyone about this, and I’d like to keep it hush-hush, at least until I know what’s going on.”  
“You may confide in me. I have duties to Asgard, and significant interest in keeping Midgard safe as well. As long as this secret does not harm either, you have my word.”  
“Um, no. It isn’t that influential. It’s just something that might cause people to doubt my, uh, honor, like you said earlier. Have you ever heard of a... I don’t know its name, of a bond spell?”  
“I am no sorcerer.”  
“I know. But you’re the only person I feel like I should ask. Anything helps, even rumors you’ve heard. I’ll describe it to you. Then, you can tell me if you know what I’m talking about.”  
Thor leans forward.  
He explains the details of the spell: the green flames, the knife and bowl, most of the side effects, what Loki had told him about it.  
Thor’s eyes widen. “I have heard of such a thing.”  
“You have?” Tony leans forward eagerly. “Spill.”  
“It is a most ancient custom, rarely practiced now. I hear it was done most often in days of yore, when Asgard was building its might, and had need of alliances.”  
“…so, you guys used to melt people’s brains together to keep the peace?”  
Thor laughs. “No! When Asgard needed peace, we found two people, one of Asgard, and one of another realm. That spell would help find those most compatible, most suitable for one another. It does not do damage.”  
Tony starts laughing along, then stops. “Wait. You’re serious.”  
“Entirely.”  
He is, Tony can tell. Thor rarely lies, and when he does, it’s usually pretty obvious.  
“Okay. Back up. I don’t think you realize what you are saying here. This is _Loki._ And me.”  
Thor nods.  
“ _Together,_ Thor?”  
Thor smiles, almost sadly. It’s a smile two steps (or several) away from reality. “An alliance that perhaps will go beyond my efforts at reconciliation. I wish you well.”  
Thor recalls fond memories that have nothing to do with today, and that fondness could kill. Either Tony is stuck in a twisted rom-com or… He doesn’t know the alternative. If he mentions the fact that, _hey Thor, your brother definitely hates me,_ he’s sure to get on Thor’s bad side. On the other hand, if he lets this continue any longer, he’s going to have to deal with everyone else thinking he’s compromised or reckless… Well, everyone thinks he’s reckless anyway, but that’s not the point.  
He tries to explain in a different way.  
“I think the spell went wrong. Your brother and I aren’t compatible at all. Or maybe you’re thinking of a different spell.”  
Thor nods. “It may be a different spell. I am no master in spellwork.”  
Tony sighs with relief.  
“However…” Tony tenses again, and nods encouragingly. Furrows appear on Thor’s forehead.  
“I wouldn’t have expected you to think thus… Perhaps it is more obvious from an outsider’s view.”  
“What? What’s obvious?” This does not sound good.  
“Please do not take offense. I am merely stating what I observe. It’s simply that… well. I know my brother well. And I believe I have become closer to you, Man of Iron.”  
Tony nods again.  
“I have seen firsthand your good qualities, on and off the battlefield. You are a brilliant strategist. Good at puzzles. And a loyal friend. And when I remember my brother, before all of this mess… You and he may have more in common that you think. The spell may need no more than that.”  
“Loki? Loyal?” He blurts. “I mean, uh…”  
“I’m aware of my brother’s reputation,” Thor says calmly. “This recent mess does not help matters, either. Yet, I have seen him defend the lowliest of the low, to a point where it inconveniences him most heavily. And for those who have his heart…” Thor smiles, but it does not seem like a happy expression. “He would do anything. Not unlike someone else I know.”  
Looking into his eyes is difficult. His throat hurts. He could mention a lot about death spells and rose-colored lenses, but he doesn’t have the heart to.  
He clears his throat. “Thor, I can’t, I can’t defend him,” he says shakily.  
“He is capable of doing so himself.”  
That’s not what he meant.  
“Listen, I don’t have ‘his heart’ or whatever. We’re like…” For some reason, he’s coming up blank. He’s definitely can’t say _your brother’s hot, but we aren’t having sex._ “...we’re not lovers,” he finishes.  
Thor is almost amused. Or maybe pitying. “Nor would you need to be. I only ask that you extend a hand. You are strong, shield-brother,” he says. Apparently, that’s enough, because he gets ready to leave. “I am glad we have spoken. You may confide in me at any time.”  
Tony nods helplessly. Thor leaves before he can think of anything to say.

-  
Once Tony starts asking questions, Jarvis is good at calculating the odds of something going batshit.  
In theory, the answer is: not many before SHIELD shuts the scanners down. In practice, though, the answer is: every scanner that one Black Widow has access to. Which is a lot, although not every single one. Almost surprising, considering that hacking isn’t her forte.  
“I’m surprised you’re letting me do this.”  
“What can I say? I’m easily bribed,” she says, gesturing with her wineglass to the bottle Tony had brought.  
“I don’t believe that for a second,” Tony mutters, leaning over and typing on the keyboard. “Also, really? A Dell?”  
“It doesn’t come with spyware.” She smirks.  
“Whoa. Easy there,” he deadpans. After a pause: “That stuff’s reserved for Fury.”  
She snickers. “Also, I really want a Loki tracker,” she adds, sipping from her glass.  
His jaw drops. “How’d you-”  
“I didn’t.”  
“Damn it. Well, it’s not really a tracker. If he moves really quickly, it’ll take a while to find the signature again. Assuming the energy reading is the same.”  
She shrugs.“ It’s better than nothing. I knew you’d come up with a plan,” she says.  
“Nuh-uh. It’s not a plan. This is for science.”  
She smiles.  
“Science,” he says sternly.  


-  
Loki finds him in a dream again, but Tony gets the first word in.  
“Is it true, what he said?”  
“What who said? Contrary to what you’d like to think, I don’t eavesdrop on your every conversation.”  
The setting is a room with many bookshelves, rather like an old library. Loki is in another aisle, but Tony gets a sense of what he’s feeling, rather than a look at his face. I  
“Thor basically said that we’re...” he hesitates.  
Loki’s interest peaks.  
“...that you and I are soulmates, for lack of a better word.”  
Derision. “He would say that.”  
“So you don’t believe him, then?”  
“Rather, I know the truth.”  
A flare rises up. “And you didn’t think to tell me?”  
“Why? The purpose of the spell is two bind two people together, which you knew. In the past, that often meant two members of warring factions, supposedly highly compatible.”  
Tony tries to gaze at the titles on the books, but they shift easily. “So, like... arranged marriage… for treaty-making purposes?”  
“You seem surprised.”  
“It seems rather old-fashioned.”  
“Well, it is old. That is why there is little or no information about the spell. And it is why Thor is so grossly misinformed.”  
“Surely there were divorces, though? What if the m… arrangement is all a ruse, and the people start up a war again? What if they end up hating each other?”  
Loki huffs. (That’s the feeling he conveys anyway.) “There is simply too much time between when the spell was first discovered and now. In that between-time, mention of it faded into a myth. Reduced to stories spun of forbidden love and great wars, most believe that the spell does not exist.”  
“Well, I guess that happens here, too.”  
Loki’s mental voice is almost gentle. “Stark, if you choose to seek Thor’s help, do not let his mind be clouded by fanciful thinking.”  
Tony nods.  
He looks at gaps between the books, where he can see what looks like a glimpse of movement. He’d always known Loki was sharp. That’s what made fighting him interesting. But he also has the perseverance to look into what others dismiss. How intriguing. He admired that.  
Loki shuffles uncomfortably.  
_Oh shit. He heard that._  
Loki clears his throat. “I’ll leave you to your rest,” he says.  
Loki must have ended the meeting, then, because the scene melts away.  
-  
It’s less awkward than he thought it would be, facing Thor after inadvertently complimenting his brother.  
“If my brother has truly found nothing, there is small hope for breaking the spell,” Thor tells him.  
“That’s encouraging.”  
“Fear not! There is the chance, however small, that someone in Asgard will know the remedy. I’ll be going there in three days. Shall I ask?”  
Tony sighs. “Sure, Thor. Thanks.”

-  
The problem is, a surprising amount of things have a similar signature. “Don’t fucking tell me there’s a Hogwarts,” he growls to himself. Or maybe ‘magic’ varies each time you cast it, and every spell is different. He’s fumbling around in the dark, here.  
It’s more likely that every energy user has a different signature, though, considering the perfect match between the bracelet and Loki’s readings. Loki… hasn’t contacted him at all lately. He just lets his nightmares flow through and pretends he and Tony don’t have anything to talk about.  
“Sir, Doctor Banner is requesting entry.”  
Tony sighs and waves it away. “Let him in.”

Bruce enters and glances around. Tony puts his hands in his pocket.  
“You busy?” It’s not a normal day when Bruce Banner isn’t automatically let into a room Tony is inside.  
Tony shrugs, nonchalant. “Just reading articles. Well, letting Jarvis read them to me, anyway. What’s up?”  
“You didn’t see Thor off.”  
“Tch. He comes and goes. We talked earlier; it’s fine.”  
“Well, anyway, we’re going to introduce Steve to Boggle. Join us?”  
“I have a lot to do…”  
“There’s pizza,” Bruce says firmly.  
“Okay, okay.” Tony puts his hands up in surrender. “What toppings? Won’t the game get greasy?”


	20. Chapter 20

“Repeat that.”  
Fury leans forward on his desk. “SHIELD has decided that it is in your best interest, and that of your team, for you to stay in Stark Tower until-”  
“Avengers Tower,” he interjects. (Well, not technically, but that’s not the point.) He crosses his arms. “Why isn’t Thor here? He’s part of this team too.”  
“Thor has a kingdom to supervise. This is a temporary matter concerning only you. Everyone is here to witness. ”  
“No. You know what I think? You know exactly how Thor feels about Loki. We could have had this meeting days ago!”

Tony looks around the room, noticing everyone’s expressions. “…All of you think I should do it.”  
“It’s only for a short time,” Bruce says. “We know how much you’d dislike it, but it’s for the best.”  
He grits his teeth. “Fine. I’ll stay out of battle. It’s temporary; remember that.”  
“No distance-manned suits, either, until we find out how he spies on you. He may think it’s you.”  
“Fine.”

-  
The upside of the whole scenario is that he has a lot of time to look at the scanners. “I wonder if Fury would let me update them or if he’d be too paranoid,” he muses aloud. He’d probably take them all apart.

The downside is that he can watch everyone on the news. They don’t particularly struggle, but watching one’s friends put themselves in danger is a different feeling from doing it alongside them.

It’s during one such time, when he is avoiding looking at the news, that he decides to look at the feeds Nat let him look at. There are certain areas where energy has mostly the same readings, which makes him wonder if certain people have casted spells near where they live.  
“What’s that?”  
“Holy-!” Tony jumps about a foot in the air. “Oh, hi, Brucey.” He closes the screen. “Thought everyone was still fighting. Don’t sneak up on me like that! I could get a heart attack.”  
“Those were SHIELD cameras,” Bruce says slowly.  
“This thing?” he gestures. “Nah.” Tony looks around. “Where’s everyone else?”  
Bruce shrugs. “Doing the debrief. They didn’t need the Hulk. What are you doing?”  
“Um.” He gestures at the laptop. “So. Whatcha think about sounding? Believe it or not, I’ve-”  
“Tony,” he interrupts, “No one would believe you’re watching porn right now.”  
“Whoa! So you have heard-”  
His eyes flash green. Tony quickly shuts up, startled. “For one thing,” Bruce says “you wouldn’t hide it. For another, I saw what was on that screen.”  
Tony groans. “Can we pretend you didn’t and move on? Pretty please?” he begs.  
“Show it to me,” he says calmly.  
“Please?”  
“Show it.”  
Tony gulps. He opens the screen. “Just some, ah, readings I got during the Battle of New York.”  
Bruce’s gaze dances over the charts. “Loki.”  
Well, there was no point denying it. “We have some unfinished business.”  
“Don’t we all?” Bruce asks.  
“Not as much as me,” he says, “I know how that sounds, which is why I didn’t want you to know about this. I just need to meet him.”  
Bruce shakes his head. “I don’t see what the problem is. We’d all like to. Why not keep everyone posted?”  
Shit. Tony bit his lip. He didn’t have an excuse.   
He fakes a laugh; a bit of nervousness slips through. Maybe that just makes it more believable. “ Right. I guess I’ve been worrying over nothing.”  
Bruce hesitates; it looks like he’s about to say something. Tony waits, tense.  
“Happens to the best of us,” he says finally.  
He spends as much time as possible delaying putting up results, but more questions come in about it. It’s possible that people are starting to worry that he actually is compromised. Eventually, he keeps a small display up near the kitchen.  
He shouldn’t have been surprised by it’s effects.


	21. Chapter 21

There’s a sticky note by the coffee maker, which is unusual, since Tony dislikes paper and anyone could have left a message with Jarvis.  
It’s best if you sit this one out. The Director is right. Sorry. –Steve  
Tony looks up at the display.  
“Fuck! You bastard. You planned this, didn’t you?”  
The Bermuda Triangle, though. That’s almost funny, considering its reputation.  
Well, he can’t say he knows exactly what this move means, but he’s made plans of his own.  
And hypotheses of his own, which he must trust in or face the flames if he’s wrong. He looks at his wrist like he’s checking the time. He knows every wall of this Tower- which places have important electric circuits behind them and which do not. 

-  
At least one of his hypotheses is correct. Would this have worked if he had tried it before? In any case, the bracelet makes it so that he is earlier than everyone else.  
He stops at a random interval along the hallway and steps back from the light strip, which stays on. A mahogany door fills up the space. The door knocker is a snarling cat with a ring in its mouth and two ruby eyes. He reaches up to the ring and knocks, two hollow thumps that are loud in the silence. The doors swing slowly open.  
There are flickering candles on the tables, and nothing else in the way of lighting. Tony shivers in the cold. The absence of the sound of running water is unnerving. It’s like the sound of the Void as it closes around you.  
“You’re here at last,” says a voice. The door behind him disappears.  
“I’m here,” says Tony, “Early to the party, even.” He lets his eyes adjust to the dark and casts his gaze to the source of the voice.  
“You shouldn’t have come.”  
His skin is dark and his eyes glow, but the features are unmistakable. He’s seated on a chair away from the tables, as if it was some sort of throne.  
“Is that so?” He sets his suitcase on one of the tables and unlocks it. “You greet me like you’re expecting me, but you wish I wasn’t here. Rude.”  
“If you had stayed, I would have claimed I had forgotten about you. I should have realized you’d rather sacrifice yourself like a fool. Heroes.”  
“That’s not my plan.”  
“Oh?”  
“I’m here for that counterspell you created.” Tony steps closer to Loki, and the air gets colder.  
He’s incredulous. “You realize that I’d kill you the instant it’s over?”  
Tony shrugs. “I’ve brought a suit.”  
“Ah. I suppose there _is_ that. You have protection from wounds. What is your protection against lies?”  
Tony folds his arms. “You have the counterspell for certain. That’s all I have to know.”  
Loki barks out a laugh. “I thought you had realized. You were so close when… Listen, I have your blood,” he murmurs.  
_Truth._ That makes Tony pause, waiting to hear more.  
“Even without your dear captain, I have enough power to take me to Asgard. It does not truly matter whose life I to add to the mix. You are only mortals, after all.”  
“I haven’t bled since… the first day here. And we washed our hands.”  
“But not the glass.” Loki says.  
“Oh.” It sinks in. “I see. That means…”  
“I could kill you. As soon as you and I part.” He says it in a matter of fact manner. “You shouldn’t have come.”  
_He shouldn’t have…?_ He straightens his spine. “Set up the counterspell.”  
Loki gapes. Tony feels twistedly pleased. “How idiotic _are_ you?” Loki says finally.  
“I’ve already been placing my life in your hands. I might as well do it again.”  
“You don’t under-”  
Something snaps when he hears that. “No you don’t,” he says angrily, “If you truly hate me, hate us, so much, you would’ve skipped the whole month fucking around with counterspells and stabbed yourself in the heart.”  
“I value my own-“  
“ _No you don’t!_ It’s shitty, but you don’t.”  
Loki takes a shaky breath.  
Tony continues. “You just want to tie up the loose ends.” He shakes his head. “But what kind of loose ends? Vengeance?”  
“The Avengers are-“  
“You don’t even know if your son is dead.”  
This strikes Loki silent. His mouth falls open. And there it is: another of Tony’s hypotheses proven.  
“…So you kill the only people who might know what happened?”  
“I…”  
“ _And even if he is,_ do you think he would have wanted you to do this?”  
Loki closes his mouth and scowls. “He would have no compunction about the murder of his false grandfather.”  
That almost makes him pause. _Not grandparents?_ He shakes his head. “That’s not what I meant,” Tony says lowly. “I’m talking about you. You talk about how I might not be able to stop talking to you, but have you even listened to your own words? This has changed you.”  
Loki’s eyes widen. “No, see-”  
“No, _you_ see. Life’s not so simple that you can tidy up all the loose ends. So let yourself change, damn it. You shouldn’t just run away from it all.”  
“Change?” Loki snarls back. “I have been who I am for centuries: Asgard’s poison. In any case, there’s no certainty I would die.”  
Tony snorted. “They’re royalty, and you would literally kill for a drop of power. Give up this stupid plan and live for yourself.”  
They glare at each other. Tony crosses his arms. “What you really want,” Loki says, “is for your comrades to be spared. I couldn’t care less about them.”  
Tony shrugs. “Screw them, then.”  
He blinks. “But… I thought…” he says weakly.  
“Don’t get me wrong. Of course I want them to live.” Tony takes a deep breath. “But if they can’t believe someone can change, they’re hypocrites. I don’t expect you to care about them, but I would like you to acknowledge that they make me a great conversationalist.”  
That is, of course, an absurd statement, if rather true, and it’s enough for Loki to not interrupt him. It’s also, in a way, Tony laying out his cards on the table, but he forges on.  
“We’ll figure out some non-destructive way to go about this. I’m a genius, and you’re not so dumb either. We’ll find put what happened to your son eventually.”  
Loki snorted.  
“But enough of this bullshit about spells and dark paths. Let’s talk about you and me.”  
Loki looks at him like he’s just suggested that they start living on a farm. “You realize,” he says, “that even with the history of the spell, it’s not like everyone-”  
“What did I say about spell talk?”  
“-who was under its influence ended up in courtship.”  
“Fine. I’ll bite. I bet not everyone who breaks it ends up creating a war.”  
Loki opens his mouth and Tony speaks over him. “If not, let’s be the first.”  
They stare at each other for a long moment. Inexplicably, Loki begins to laugh. “You’re- you’re crazy,” he sobs.  
“Not the first time I’ve heard that,” Tony says after a while.  
Loki begins to cry, and Tony can’t even go over there to touch him, in case the cold proves to be harmful to his health.

 

 

“Better?” Tony shivers as he speaks.  
He looks exhausted.  
“I don’t understand,” Loki says, drawing his words out like they would drop if they were denser, “You want…what? To fix me? Through conversation and sugary confections?”  
“No. Talking to someone might help, though. This path you’re on isn’t exactly good for you.”  
He scoffs. “You’ve sought vengeance before. It ended well for you.”  
Tony sighs. “It’s not about me.”  
“Your Yinsen, then. It calmed your memory of him.”  
He shakes his head. “No, not exactly. Not entirely. Mmm.” He pauses to think. “I had been wasting my life. I realized that I had created a debt, of sorts. He was a pacifist, more than I am, so I don’t think he would have chosen this kind of life, but.” He shrugs. “I did what I could to make it not such a waste.”  
“And you think you can repay my debt.” He makes a sound that could almost be called a laugh.  
“No,” says Tony, “I think you can.”  
Loki looks incredulous. “And I need you for that?”  
He shrugs. “You need someone in your court: someone who will vouch for you, give you advice. Since you don’t want Thor…”  
Loki’s expression says enough.  
“I can tell my team that you’ve had a change of heart.”  
“It’s not so simple as that,” Loki says, “I’m not following along out of altruism.”  
Tony closes his eyes and sighs. And there it was. Loki’s cards on the table, as it were. “I- I know. Humor me. Natasha can vouch for me; since she had the feeling I was going to try to convince you of something. I’ve also begun to…” He takes a deep breath. Can he say this? Should he?  
Loki looks at him and raises an eyebrow. “…Yes?”  
“Uh, nevermind. Take this off, would you?” Tony says, holding out his arm. “Then we’ll try out that counterspell of yours.”  
Loki stands up and approaches. It really doesn’t do anything to help with the temperature. It gives Tony a chance to look at his face in the candlelight, though. His eyes, his irises and sclera to be specific, are a bright red. His skin is blue, with raised markings. Tony wonders at their purpose. His features are the same as they always have been, though.  
Loki murmurs something, and the bracelet opens with a click. He carefully slides it off Tony’s wrists and holds it out. Tony shivers. “It should come on and off when you wish it to, now.” He closes it and opens it again to demonstrate. “The shield still works, so you might as well keep it.”  
“I don’t need it anymore, do I?”  
“Just keep it. Or give it to someone else; it can change size to fit anyone. I don’t want it.”  
It dawns on him. “This belongs to…”  
“Just _keep_ it,” Loki snaps.  
Tony takes it and places it on his other wrist. Loki takes a step back, as if he’s suddenly realized their proximity.  
“Let’s start the spell, before your Avengers arrive,” he says.  
Tony takes a deep breath. “See you on the other side.”


End file.
